Digital SLR Photography - UK (2019-12)

GETSERIOUSABOUTSCENICSANDLEARNHOWTOMAXIMISEDEPTH-OF-

FIELDANDAVOIDDISTORTIONSINYOURLANDSCAPEPHOTOGRAPHY

APERTURESFOR LANDSCAPES

W

HENGET TINGA HANDLEon

apertures,isolatinga focalpoint

usinga shallowdepth-of-fieldis a

popularapproachbut,whenphotographing

landscapes,youactuallyneedtofindwaysto

maximisethedepth-of-field,whileusing

compositionalaidstocontroltheviewer's

gazeandemphasisethefocalpoint.Narrow

aperturesareimportanttogettherichdepth

andsharpnessyou'dexpectfromthe

foregroundtobackgroundof a scene,butit's

notassimpleassettingthesmallestaperture.

In fact,verysmallapertureshavea tendency

tosoftendetailsnotsharpenthem.

Byusingnarrowapertures,usuallyin the

rangeof f/18-f/32,imagequalitybecomesa

concern.Dependingonthegradeof your

lens,typesof distortionsuchasdiffraction

(seepanel)canbemorepromenientthe

furtheryoustopdown.Asmostlenseshavea

'sweetspot'forsharpnessat apertures

aroundf/8-f/11,it makessensetouse

mid-aperturestomaximisedepth-of-field

andimagequalityat thesametime.

Usinga mid-to-smallaperture,suchas

f/11-f/16,willrequiresomeadditionalhelp

if youwanttoextenditsreachtomaximise

depth-of-field,andthatcomesfromyour

lenschoiceandfocusingtechnique.Aswe

mentionedearlier,yourfocallength

changestheappearanceofthedepth-of-

fieldyou’reabletoachieveat anygiven

aperture.It’swhywide-angleandultra

wide-anglelensestendtobethechoiceof

landscape photographers as

theyappeartohavea greater

depth-of-fieldduetoa wider

field-of-view.Telephoto

lenses,in comparison,

compressperspectiveand

magnifythescenemaking

depth-of-fieldappearshallower.

It’sgreatforbringingdistantscenes

closerorcompressinglayersin a

landscape,suchasa mistyvalley,orisolating

a singlemountainpeakortree,butyouwill

likelylosesomedepth-of-fieldandhaveto

compensatewitha smalleraperture.

Whateverlensyouchoosetouse,it's

worthremindingyourselfthatfocusroughly

extendsone-thirdin frontandtwo-thirds

behindyourpointoffocus,sofocusinga

thirdofthewayintothelandscapeshould

deliveracceptablesharpnessthroughout

thescene.Tobeveryprecise,youcanusea

techniquecalledhyperfocaldistance(see

panel)tocalculatetheidealfocusing

distancewithinthescene,orapplya mixof

post-productionbyfocusstackingyour

frames(turntopage56).Thisallowsyouto

includelarge,impactfulforegroundinterest.

Notalllandscapessuitextensive

depth-of-field,however;somescenesare

idealforwideaperturesandselectivefocus

likeisolatinga singleflowerin a field.For

every‘rule’there’sa creativewaytobreakit,

soembracethefreedomtoexperimentwith

wideaperturesin yourlandscapestoo.

WHATEVERLENSYOUCHOOSE,IT'SWORTHREMINDING

YOURSELFTHATFOCUSROUGHLYEXTENDSONE-THIRDINFRONT

ANDTWO-THIRDSBEHINDYOURPOINTOFFOCUS

HELEN DIXON

Photo Masterclass

TOP TIP

USINGFILTERS

Whenyou’reworkingwithmid-

apertures,youmayneedtointroduce

filtration– a polariserorND filter – to

help reduce the amount of light entering

the lens, in the same way stopping

the lens down can have on

controlling the exposure.

As depth-of-fieldextendstwo-thirdsbeyondthepointof

focusandone-thirdin front,focusinga thirdoftheway into

theframeusingf/11-f/13'should'giveyoufront-to-back

sharpness.Thekeyis tofindtheclosestpointat

whichtofocusonthatdeliversfocustoinfinity.

Somephotographersdothisby‘guesstimating’

thepointoffocusbutthebestmethodis called

hyperfocaldistance.Hyperfocaldistanceis the

distanceat whichdepth-of-fieldis greatestfor

yourchosenfocallengthandapertureand,

whendonecorrectly,willextenddepth-of-field

allthewaytoinfinity.Thankfullythereare

plentyofsmartphoneappsthatbyenteringa

fewfigureslikeyourlensandf/stop,willhelp

youtoexactlycalculatethehyperfocal

distance,suchasPhotoPills,HyperfocalDoF,

TrueDoF, DOFMaster.Allthat’sleftis tois use

thefocusdistanceit givesyouandyou’redone.

Manyphotographersstillthinkfocusingtheirlens to infinity

witha smallapertureis bestpractice,butyou’re actually

losinga lotofpotentialdepth-of-field– tryboth methods for

yourselfandseethedifference!

HYPERFOCAL FOCUSING

52 Digital SLR Photography December 2019

ADAM BURTON