Depth of Field
(Examples of narrow and deep depth of field)

This article is an introduction to depth of field with several links at the end to more detailed definitions, explanations and specific photo examples of this photography term-which is often abbreviated as DOF.

Understanding DOF is extremely important when considering your photo's composition. Just knowing how to control it's range or it's size will help you improve your photography dramatically.

The only difference in the two photos below is the size of the range of things in sharp focus. You can see size really does matter.

The only change that was made between the two photographs was the aperture or f-stop number setting on the camera. Changing the f-stop is the most well known and easiest way to control your DOF.

I focused directly on the close-up bottle in both photos. In the photograph on the left an aperture of f-4 was used. Only the close-up beer bottle is sharp and clearly in focus.

In the photograph on the right, the f-stop was f-22, the smallest opening that my lens can achieve. This increased the range of sharpness.

However, there are others ways to control DOF that you will want to understand to improve your level of expertise. These include the distance of your subject from the camera and the focal length of the lens.

Because the distance of the close-up bottle to the camera was very close, even f-22 was not small enough for the farther-away beer bottle to be completely sharp.

Subject Distance. The closer the subject is to the camera then the smaller the range of things in sharp focus. So, when you do close up or macro photography, the DOF is extremely small.

You can see in the photo below the very limited range of Smarties that are in sharp focus, mostly because the subject is so close to the camera.

Conversely when you are photographing things that are distant from the camera, you will have more of a large range of things in focus or a deep DOF.

In this very interesting photo of Newhaven Harbor, the closest object in the photo is not real close to the camera. The Depth of Field is greater because of the longer distance of the camera to the water line.

Focal Length. The larger the focal length, then the smaller the range of things in sharp focus.

So when you use a powerful zoom lens or long telephoto lens, you get a smaller or narrower DOF.

Another important element that many photographers fail to think about is the size of the sensor.

Cameras with smaller sensors are built with small lenses and therefore have relatively larger Depth of Field compared to a camera with a large or full-sized sensor.

This is a limitation when the photographer wants to use selective focusing to emphasize only a certain area of the overall photograph.

In certain situations it is often desirable to have a small DOF.

This is especially true when taking portraits and we are trying to intentionally blur the background.

This portrait of this high school basketball player uses a shallow depth of field to blur the background.

I used a long telephoto, zoomed to 200mm and set the aperture to f 2.8 to minimized the depth of field.

This portrait was taken with a Canon 5D which has a full-sized sensor and is another factor in how much of a range is in focus.

As already mentioned, cameras with smaller sensors will produce photos that have a larger DOF. Cell Phone camera sensors are quite small so that almost everything is in sharp focus unless you have blur from motion. Lenses that can "open up" to a wide aperture have the option of getting a very shallow DOF.

With landscape photography, compositions often include objects that are close to and far away from the camera. This is a situation were a deep depth of field is desirable to keep everything in focus.

The other skill that is useful to develop is knowing exactly where to focus your lens when composing your photograph to get everything in your camera frame sharp.

What is Depth of Field? Read these several different definitions to give you a few unique ways to understand it's definition. Also why it is so important to consider when taking a photograph and a specific side by side demonstration with 3 different focus points.

Photo examples of different depth of field. This article has several photo examples on the proper use of DOF to improve your photos. The photos are critiqued on how the lighting and composition are also considered when determining your camera settings.

Shallow DOF Examples. This page has a few more sample photos that show the importance of paying attention to Depth of Field.

Gallery of Deep DOF Photos. Large or deep DOF is often desirable in landscape photography. This page has a few more sample photos and corresponding critiques.

Once you start paying attention to DOF, it becomes another factor that separates your photography from photos taken by the average Joe Photographer.

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Now it's Your Turn

Do you have any good examples of depth of field? Share it with our readers so everyone can enjoy and learn.