When you hear the phrase Depth of Field (also called DOF) you may wonder why you should care as long as your pictures are in focus. Well since DOF is generally referred to as the range of a pictures over all sharpness; and most people are instinctively drawn to the sharpest part of the picture first, we would say that it is indeed a major player in the game of creative control.
Tired of seeing black eye sockets and whitened out faces in that last series of snaps you took at the family outing? It’s easy to get a much better result if you just look at the light. No light, no picture, but what counts is the light quality and direction. And the good part is you can use natural lighting just as effectively inside as well as outside. A little careful seeing before you click the shutter is all that’s required.
Tilt shift lenses enable photographers to transcend the normal restrictions of depth of field and perspective. Many of the optical tricks these lenses permit could not otherwise be reproduced digitally—making them a must for certain landscape, architectural and product photography. The first part of this tutorial addresses the shift feature, and focuses on its use for in digital SLR cameras for perspective control and panoramas. The second part focuses on using tilt shift lenses to control depth of field.
The shutter keeps light out of the camera except during an exposure, when it opens to let light strike the image sensor. In respect to just exposure, faster shutter speeds let less strike the image sensor so the image is darker. Slower speeds let in more so it's lighter.
Sharpness—or the lack of it—is immediately noticeable when you look at a photograph.
In today's photography tutorial we will learn how to control the DOF.