wideorashallowareaoftheimagedependingonvarious
aspects.
Theabilityoftheeyeto readthesharpnessvariesfrom
person to person. When looking at depth of field in
particulartherewillbecertainareasoftheimagethatwill
bereadassharpandthencertainareasthatareobviously
out of focus. The areas between these both in the
foregroundandinthebackgroundarecalledthecircleof
confusion;thisareabetweenthetwoiswhatwilldrawour
eye towards the area of the image that is sharp.
The amount of depth of field is determined by various
factors,theprimaryonebeingtheaperture(ƒ-stop)value
setonthelens.Ashallowdepthoffieldiswhenasmall
focallengthoftheimageisinfocus;thelowertheƒ-stop
(wider the aperture) theshallowerthe depth of field.
Shallow Depth of Field
Shallowdepthoffield iscommonlyusedbytheportrait
photographertoisolateand separatethesubjectfromthe
background.Byusingalowerƒ-stop–forexampleƒ5.6or
ƒ4,valuesusedcommonlyinlifestyleportraitphotography
- the background will be thrown out of focus and the
subject drawn towards the foreground of the image.
Thechoice oflenswillbeofsignificancewhenshooting
foraeither shalloworwide depthoffield.Primelenses
ratherthanzoomlenseswillgiveyoutheabilitytohavea
wideraperture,sometimesaslowasƒ1.8orƒ1.4,andthus
ashallowerdepthoffield,throwingthebackgroundinto
blur.However,usingadepthoffieldthatissoshallowmay
not bequite assuitable forsuccessful portraiture,where