Today I would like to touch on a subject that can be used to help your photographs tell a story and get the people to view and "Focus" on what you want them to see. All photos will use depth of field to so extent - either it being no depth of field (Used in Landscape Photography) to minimal depth of field (Used in portrait photography)

First what is Depth Of Field (DOF)  - Depth of field is where one plane is in focus and the focus gradually falls off in front and behind what is is focus. (See Examples Below)

Depth of field is controlled by the F-Stop of F-Number: The Higher the F-stop such as f/32 the larger the plane of focus. The Smaller f/1.4 the narrower the plane of focus will be.

Examples of Depth of Field 

Small Depth of field Examples (Using Smaller f-stops)

As you can see from the above two examples not everything is in focus - but this is good as it will give the eye something to focus on - What ever is in focus becomes the center of attention and the rest will give just add to the scene giving the photo context.

I suggest playing around with your cameras settings and if available on your camera use the aperture adjustment as this will give you the depth of field you want to use and let the camera adjust the shutter speed to what you need for the photo.

Remember it is usually safe to say the lower the number the faster the shutter speed will be as you are allowing in more light on the lower f-stops. This is particually useful when taking a portrait under low light situations and don't have a tripod to use. Have you ever taken a photo at a birthday party using just the candles and the face is in focus but the cake is out of focus. This is Depth of Field at work.

Now I would like to share a video I found on YouTube talking about Depth of field.

Sit back and enjoy the tutorial.

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