All About Depth Of Field—07/09/12 | DPmag.com

Depth of field is something you learn about in week one of an introductory photo class. Although it's simple in principle, it can also be fairly complex. It's that dichotomy that makes it equal parts understandable and baffling. Here are some tips that will help you take control over depth of field and use it to make better pictures.

- Depth of Field Defined
The depth of field in an image is defined as the area that is suitably in focus. In reality that means that when you focus on a given spot, the area in front of it and behind it will fall off gradually from sharp to not sharp. That means more than just a single point is suitably focused, it covers an area. The greater the area in focus, the greater the depth of field.

- How aperture affects depth of field
F/stop affects depth of field simply: the bigger the opening, the shallower the depth of field. The smaller the opening, the deeper the depth of field. This axiom is used regularly by photographers whether they want to isolate part of a scene and make it the only thing in focus, or whether they want to ensure a subject is tack sharp from foreground to back.
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All About Depth Of Field—07/09/12 | DPmag.com: Sawalich