Understanding Depth of Field

Rob Barron of My Photo Tutor (www.myphototutor.com) gives a brief explanation for newcomers to the art of photography to help them understand this important aspect of the craft.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• photography
• tutorial
• camera
• depth
• of
• field

[robinelche]

Sure i have to say thanks a million realy good video really good way of explain u help me a lot on this im new on picture only 8 years on it recently got a canon T3 and starting to get a few shots a week so was looking forwar to lear how to take more advantage of my camera, this and a few more of ur videos help me a lot so looking forward to sent u some of my work and expererience on this matter sorry for my english my first language is spanish see yaa arround and have a great day,

[MPTutor]

@robinelche You're very welcome, I am glad my videos have helped you. And don't worry about your English, it is MUCH better than my Spanish! :o)

Cheers,

Rob

My Photo Tutor

[dotunn]

thanks very much for the video, probably one of the best ive seen, im new to photography and still learning. ive got a new camera ''samsung nx5'' which is very similar to the more popular nx10. i love out of focus photos , the ones where the subject stands out sooo sharply and the background is heavily blurred. ive managed this a few times when i move close to the subject, but i struggle from a distance to get that deep blurry background, is it the lens? i use a 18-55mm lens. thanks.

[MPTutor]

@dotunn Partly as a telephoto lens does achieve the blurring more effectively from a distance but to be honest, it is hard to get the blurring from a distance unless the background is a lot further behind the subject. The best blurring occurs when the camera to subject distance is shorter and the subject to BG distance is further. You have a good camera so enjoy using it and don't be afraid to experiment :o)

Cheers,

Rob

[sirdon1229]

Thanks for the quick reply Rob

I have a kodak z981 non removable lens

Ive tried taking depth of field shots, but not to good. Got some, but only when I was up close like 5 ft. Is there a setting that you may know about that I could do longer shots like from 10ft. Im sorry Im just getting started with this camera and you seem like you know your cameras

thanks again

Don

[MPTutor]

@sirdon1229 The reason shallow DoF is harder with your camera is the relatively small physical size of the sensor itself. The larger the sensor, the more blurring you can achieve.

To achieve good results, the other factor you can control (other than the aperture) is the distance from your subject to the background. The more distance there compared to distance from camera to subject, the more blurring you will achieve with a wide aperture.

I hope that helps you. Drop me a line if not :o)

[MPTutor]

@bmxpeter8 That's ok Peter, like the old saying says 'You can't please everyone all of the time'. I see my video has now been watched for close to 110,000 times so if 10 people didn't like it I guess that's a pretty reasonable success rate :o)

I shall continue to make videos for those who DO like them and find them helpful. Those that don't have the entirety of YouTube to look at so I am sure they will find something to please them :o)

Thanks for your support though :o)

Cheers, Rob

[DerAlexDa]

This video is just AWESOME! It helped me a lot! Thanks :)

[cliooz55]

@sirdon1229 buy a new camera, canon 5D MARK2

[borkkke]

Very helpful... Thanks for good video (y)

[MrGarnet66]

Excellent teacher! Thank you for your patience.

[briefstories]

i'm learning the topic fast because of a good tutor. thanks, Sir!

[AF0093]

Great video Rob. What can you suggest for me to do about me NOT getting the whole DOF, I have watched many videos and just don't get it still? I'm about to cry because this photography should be easy and it's becoming as if I was in school for a PHD.

[hussaruk]

Thanks so much for your vids!

[TheLazarNikolic]

@robinelche Hey. This is a great guide, thank you so much for the video. I have a question though. I am goign to buy a Nikon d5100 soon, with the kit lens (15-55, i think). I'm a beginner, so I would like to ask you, can you change the f number to 1.4 for example, with that lens? And what result does it give?

[sikkantdotcom]

Amazing!!! Thanks

[badzz808]

this video helps a lot an to be honest this is the only video tutorial that you really understand so far.well defined,thank you very much.god bless you

[benwilliamdownes]

This actually helped alot, thank you! I shall definitely apply this knowledge to my photo walks :)