An example of depth of field

In another post about aperture priority, I talked about depth of field as being the amount of the photo that is in focus for a given aperture setting.

The following two images demonstrate this. The first uses an aperture of f2.8 which is a very wide aperture meaning the hole that light can pass through is large. This gives a narrow depth of field with only a small area of the image in focus.

Depth Of Field f2.8

The next image shows the other extreme, a very small aperture, f22. This has much more of the image in focus, but requires a longer shutter speed.

Depth Of Field f22

Try the different aperture settings on your camera and learn how changing the aperture will effect the image.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 16th, 2007 at 11:16 am and is filed under Photo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “An example of depth of field”

  1. What is Macro Photography? · Photography Basics says on June 19th, 2007 at 11:43 am :

    […] Depth of field is also going to be more obvious. Being that close up you will need to use a small aperture to make sure you get a suitably large area in focus, although you can also use aperture creatively to pick out one area. […]

  2. Bruce says on January 30th, 2008 at 7:28 am :

    This is an excellent example, coupled with the short article explaining aperture priority mode it has really helped me understand things better. Thanks !

  3. Bruce says on January 30th, 2008 at 7:34 am :

    oh, and I’m also curious as to what the wing is from ? ;)

  4. Garry says on January 30th, 2008 at 9:36 am :

    Hi Frank, glad you found it useful. The wing, I think, is from a … well, it’s not a harrier, but the one that’s very similar to a harrier, or maybe came before the harrier that looks exactly the same. It’s sitting at Brooklands museum.

  5. Neil says on March 2nd, 2008 at 9:11 am :

    They are called vortex generators, nice and concise explanation using an excellent example. Thanks.

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