A study of the effects of depth of field
6-3 DEPTH OF FIELD
The human eye, like the camera, has a limited depth of field. In other words we focus on one level and the
objects in front or behind are often blurred. When Deigo Velazquez painted Las Meninas he, along with many
artists (pre-photography), painted everything in focus. This was part of the magic of painting as the viewers
perception was thereby expanded - rather like a hologram. Today wide angle lens may produce something
similar but unless you intend to spend hours in a darkroom it is an all or nothing solution.There are good lessons to be learned here and this painting by Deigo Velazquez will serve us well as it has a
defined foreground, middle ground and background. Let's experiment then ...First I will separate the fore, middle and back grounds then utilise three focal depths and observe the results.
The essential question I ask is one of choice - what do you like most?http://www.geocities.com/~jlhagan/lessons/depthofield.htm (1 of 4)1/13/2004 3:51:30 AM