Look at that depth of field! Wowza! Do want, very badly.
Also, just for kicks, I did the auto-lighten in Picasa on that pic:
I think it blows out the colors a bit, but shows off the texture more nicely. What do you think?
Showing posts with label depth of field. Show all posts
Showing posts with label depth of field. Show all posts
Friday, December 11, 2009
Lens Love
Last weekend, when mom and I went down to see PW, we also stopped by Houston Camera Exchange. I was hoping they'd have a C-Lux 3 in store for her to play around with, but they didn't. She ended up getting a Nikon Coolpix, her very first digital camera! While she was looking at those, I asked the Nikon rep if I could play with some of the lenses that were out on display. She put the 50mm f/1.4 AF-S lens on my D40 and I just about died. I was wearing a scarf/shawl I'd just finished, so I put it on the counter to play around:
Look at that depth of field! Wowza! Do want, very badly.
Also, just for kicks, I did the auto-lighten in Picasa on that pic:
I think it blows out the colors a bit, but shows off the texture more nicely. What do you think?
Look at that depth of field! Wowza! Do want, very badly.
Also, just for kicks, I did the auto-lighten in Picasa on that pic:
I think it blows out the colors a bit, but shows off the texture more nicely. What do you think?
Labels:
aperture,
depth of field,
focus
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Aperture Study
I've been trying to sneak in a post for awhile, and Donna's comment encouraged me to up and write it already! (Go check her out; not only does she have her own wonderful site, but she's contributing to the new PW Photography. Sweet!) A while ago, Jessica asked about the blurry background in some of the flower pics I took on campus. She was absolutely correct that it was caused by the aperture settings on my camera. (Does anyone else always want to spell it aperature? I guess I just pronounce it incorrectly with a bit of a Southern flair and put that extra syllable in there.)
The aperture is basically the hole in the lens that lets light in. Normally it's closed, but it opens to a predetermined size when you take a picture. When you're using a dSLR you can control the aperture size in the Manual and Aperture-priority settings. The wider the aperture (which corresponds to a smaller f/ number), the shallower the depth of field. A shallower/smaller depth of field corresponds to a smaller in-focus area in the image. Here is a series of images I took at Avery Island to illustrate the effect a change in aperture can have:
f/25.0, the smallest aperture setting here, the largest depth of field
f/13.0
f/7.1, see how the background is getting blurry?
f/6.3
f/5.6, the largest aperture here, and thus the most shallow depth of field
In PW form, here are the first and last next to each other for comparison:
See the difference in the background, and even the leaves in the foreground?
A couple random things about aperture. As you might expect (or already know), the wider the aperture, the more light is let in. You can then use a faster shutter speed, letting you take crisper, clearer photos (although, blur can be good). Also, if you are using a zoom lens, your maximum aperture will change in relation to the focal length you're using. On my kit lens, the range of maximums is from f/5.6 when it's at 55mm to f/3.5 when it's at 18mm. The f/3.5 setting lets in more light, so it's useful in low-light situations. If you can't get the exact composition you want, you can always creatively crop. (Photo editing is your friend!)
Someday, I hope to get a macro lens and then really rock out the fun with depth of field, in photos like this:
Image by Flickr user ecstaticist, used under terms of CC License.
And with that, fun time is up. Time to get back to work! Hope y'all have a great week! =)
The aperture is basically the hole in the lens that lets light in. Normally it's closed, but it opens to a predetermined size when you take a picture. When you're using a dSLR you can control the aperture size in the Manual and Aperture-priority settings. The wider the aperture (which corresponds to a smaller f/ number), the shallower the depth of field. A shallower/smaller depth of field corresponds to a smaller in-focus area in the image. Here is a series of images I took at Avery Island to illustrate the effect a change in aperture can have:
f/25.0, the smallest aperture setting here, the largest depth of field
f/13.0
f/7.1, see how the background is getting blurry?
f/6.3
f/5.6, the largest aperture here, and thus the most shallow depth of field
In PW form, here are the first and last next to each other for comparison:
See the difference in the background, and even the leaves in the foreground?
A couple random things about aperture. As you might expect (or already know), the wider the aperture, the more light is let in. You can then use a faster shutter speed, letting you take crisper, clearer photos (although, blur can be good). Also, if you are using a zoom lens, your maximum aperture will change in relation to the focal length you're using. On my kit lens, the range of maximums is from f/5.6 when it's at 55mm to f/3.5 when it's at 18mm. The f/3.5 setting lets in more light, so it's useful in low-light situations. If you can't get the exact composition you want, you can always creatively crop. (Photo editing is your friend!)
Someday, I hope to get a macro lens and then really rock out the fun with depth of field, in photos like this:
Image by Flickr user ecstaticist, used under terms of CC License.
And with that, fun time is up. Time to get back to work! Hope y'all have a great week! =)
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