Depth of Field Tips / Tutorial
Depth of field tells the viewer of the photograph what the photographer considers to be significant in the photo. A smaller aperture (F16, 22, or 32) will make the whole image sharp bringing the viewers eye from the foreground all the way through to the background. A wider aperture (F1.8 or 2.8) makes the foreground sharp while the background is blurry in order to highlight the foreground and keep the background from distracting from the subject of the photo.
For shooting photos of people or something that you want only the foreground highlighted, you should use a wider aperture lens so that the focus of the photo is where you want it. In order to highlight the model, a lens with a wider aperture is focused on the models eyes making everything else around them out of focus and placing them in a clear context.
For landscape photography you would want to use a smaller aperture lens so that the whole photo is sharp and it draws the eye from the foreground to the background taking it all in. No one part of the photo is clearer than any other so the viewer is not focused on any one specific thing and can clearly see the whole of the landscape.
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