Deep Depth of Field Photo Gallery

The photography term "deep depth of field," has the same meaning as large or long depth of field (DOF).

This photo of the crocus and the brick building in the background is a good situation to have a deep range of things in focus.

In addition to a high aperture value, a wide-angle lens was used to get the deepest DOF.

The 3 photos of the billiards table were taken with a medium telephoto lens, an 85mm f-1.8 Canon, which will have quite a bit less depth of field than a wide-angle lens.

You can see, even stopped down all the way to f-22, the farthest billiards ball is not perfectly sharp. With a wide-open aperture of f-1.8, you can see you have no shot at getting a large depth of field.

Landscape photography often involves composing your photo with objects both close and far from your camera, so a large DOF is usually desirable.

The waves in the foreground are sharp as well as the distant boats and clouds.

If the camera had been down low, close to the water's edge, even more of a deep depth of field would have been required to have everything in sharp focus.

It is a beautiful and the composition may have been improved if the horizon did not divide the photograph in half. It may have been possible to use the Rule of Thirds in photography to make an even better photo.

There are times when you may not want the distant objects in your landscape photography to be perfectly in focus. The main subject in this nature photograph is the close-up of the yellow flowers.

The slightly more distant yellow flowers create a nice balance and then the blue water provide a great color contrast with the yellow.

Here is another example of a landscape photograph where it's a good idea to have everything in sharp focus.The Fall colors, mixed in with the areas of rock and the more distant reflections in the water create several pathways for our eye to travel.

Compare the two examples below. In the top photo I set my aperture at f-3.5. In the bottom example I set my aperture to f-22. In both photos I focuse on the letter 'i" in CusinartIf this photo was being used for an advertisement for the coffee bean scoop, the top photo would be the better choice.

The deep depth of field in the bottom makes the sharply focused coffee beans a distraction from the product, which is the scoop.

Is this nitpicking? Yes! But understanding the subtle differences in depth of field can turn an adequate photo into a good or great photo.

Here is a another still life composition that I used f-22 as an aperture to get everything in fairly sharp focus.

These deep depth of field examples can wet your appetite for a good cup of fresh ground coffee, don't you think? Hey, have some fun!

Happy Shooting
Photo TipMan

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