Challenge I - Aperture and Depth of Field

[chelle]

here are the indoor ones...

[Dizzy Photographics]

Though i can't participate in this part of things cause i am still without my camera, i am still looking and seeing what everyone is posting. I noticed with NikonNellies shots, that with the 1st image, the subject is actually brighter than in the 2nd one..looks better i think too

Just my lil bit of input...i feel so left out not being able to post something lol :P

[Kym]

Though i can't participate in this part of things cause i am still without my camera, i am still looking and seeing what everyone is posting. I noticed with NikonNellies shots, that with the 1st image, the subject is actually brighter than in the 2nd one..looks better i think too
Just my lil bit of input...i feel so left out not being able to post something lol :P

You can in your Fuj ... it has a Av mode!

[Dizzy Photographics]

yup...dont have it at the moment either...though its only out on loan not broken

I have done this already with the fuji...was the very first task you set me Kym lol...

[bigdazzler]

ok heres a real quick one I did to show the differences in DOF you can achieve with a large Aperture ( or commonly called " fast " lens ) lens ..

All pictures were taken in Av mode, on AUTO ISO , which the camera decided was going to be 400

#1. I chose the largest Aperture my lense was capable of, f1.4. The camera chose 1/40th sec for shutter speed. I focused on the front wheel to emphasise that with such a large Aperture the DOF can be very very shallow and some parts of your subject can be out of focus. Also as you can see the background is very very blurry.



#2. Aperture of f2.8 , camera chose 1/13th shutter speed. A slight increase in DOF, more of the ferrari is in focus and background a little less blurry.



#3. Aperture f11, shutter speed 1.3 seconds. You can see that when stopping down the aperture significantly to f11 , the corresponding shutter speed is also a lot slower at 1.3 secs. These kinds of shutter speeds you cant hand hold without getting camera shake so you will need a tripod ( as i did with this shot ) or find something to brace and support your camera on. Now at f11 you can see a clear increase in the DOF front to back and a lot less blur in the background



#4 is aperture f22, and the shutter speed is significantly slower again at a full 5 seconds.
Now the entire frame front to back is in sharp focus.



Hope this helps out a little

[NikonNellie]

Thanks Darren - that was very helpful. What's that saying " a picture speaks a thousand words".

[bigdazzler]

no worries Nellie .. i just thought that most people who are new to the sport might be using kit lenses with max apertures of about 3.5 , i thought i could demonstrate what a faster lens with max ap. of 2.8 or even 1.4 could achieve in terms of DOF .. Glad it helped

oh and by the way i loved your clarinet shot .. very nice and a good example of what were doing here

[Jcas]

Great examples Darren, well illustrated and explained .... many thanks

[chelle]

i just thought that most people who are new to the sport might be using kit lenses with max apertures of about 3.5 , i thought i could demonstrate what a faster lens with max ap. of 2.8 or even 1.4 could achieve in terms of DOF

thanks! that is great to see. i think i have a max ap of 5.6 on mine at the moment (although i think i may have gotten in lower than that when i was playing with something else as well... will have to check). The difference between your first two shots is amazing. The larger ap makes the first photo a great one while the others are just photos of a car!

[clm738]

Thanks Darren.

[bigdazzler]

thanks! that is great to see. i think i have a max ap of 5.6 on mine at the moment (although i think i may have gotten in lower than that when i was playing with something else as well... will have to check). The difference between your first two shots is amazing. The larger ap makes the first photo a great one while the others are just photos of a car!

i assume youre using the 18-70 kit lense that came with your A300 chelle ??

With most entry level and kit zoom lenses which have variable focal lengths, you will mostly see a bracketed aperture number on the lens. The bracketed aperture numbers relate directly to the different focal lengths of the lens.

Put very simply, your kit lens zoom range is 18-70mm , and the capable aperture of the lens is f3.5-f5.6

f3.5 is the maximum aperture your lens can achieve at its widest end, 18mm. f5.6 is the max aperture the lens can achieve at the long end, being 70mm.

So when you say that the largest aperture you could get when you were playing around was f5.6, in this case your lens would have been zoomed in to 70mm .. and the reason you think you remember getting to a lower f number was actually because your lens was probably at a focal length somewhere in between 18 and 70mm .. does that make sense ??

at the short, or wide end of the lense (18mm) you will be able to get f3.5 , now remember that LOWER or SMALLER f numbers mean LARGER apertures, so therefore f3.5 is the largest aperture your kit lens can achieve

Hope that wasnt too confusing

[Becstarr]

Thanks Darren for the great examples I am going to try and set up a similar setting and see how mine turn out

[bigdazzler]

Remember that this exercise relates to how changing your aperture affects DOF. So when setting up your shot make sure you use the same focal length for each shot and only alter your aperture setting, dont move your zoom.

Reason is focal length affects DOF so changing your zoom between shots will affect your DOF and you wont really know what true affect your aperture selection is having,

My examples were shot with a 50mm prime lens ( fixed focal length ) , i realise not everyone will have one of these types of lenses so just set your lense to one focal length and leave it there , only changing your aperture between shots.

Looking forward to seeing some more examples .. Keep up the good work !!

[Dan AU]

Here are my contributions..

Didn't use a telephoto though so the DOF is not quite as blurry as it could be.

The lens used EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

Differences is that one is more blurred toward the rear with a smaller aperture f4.5? and clearer with a larger aperture f27,(Not sure if I have the larger and smaller thing the correct way around) You can see a lot more details.

[chelle]

how did you get it to only blur at the rear?

[bigdazzler]

youre on the right track there Dan .. but you got the f numbers around the wrong way

*SMALLER NUMBERS= LARGER APERTURES = BLURRIER BACKGROUNDS

*LARGER NUMBERS = SMALLER APERTURES = LESSY BLURRY BACKGROUNDS/SHARPER FOCUS FRONT TO BACK

you can definitely see the difference in DOF in your subject and background .. good job

[ricktas]

how did you get it to only blur at the rear?

That is the key! Selecting the RIGHT aperture for the job. Dan got lucky, or he knows more than he is letting on. As you learn to use aperture more, you will be able to reasonably predict the depth of field (distance front to back in focus, from your focus point), and get creative by keeping what you want in focus, and blurring the bits you want as well.

[chelle]

oh, i'm stuck!! i thought that the centre of the photo was focused on and clear and all the surroundings out of focus.... or was the photo cropped at the bottom?? Or are you actually saying that you can choose where in the image the focus is? Or does it just look that way cos the bottom of the photo is black??

[chelle]

oh, oh, oh!!! i think i get it. The worm head is all the same distance from the camera!! It might be up and down in the photo (ie there is height to it) but there is no depth! Ah!!! That probably makes no sense but it does in my head and now i think i understand.

[NikonNellie]

Thanks Darren - I was pretty pleased with the shot. I used my new Tamron 90mm macro lens.