Imaging Technology

Depth of Field

DTE 8455-010
8455-012
8455-013
Objective: At the completion of this unit, the student will have an understanding of
depth of field and how it relates to photography. The student will use this knowledge
to expose their second roll of black and white film. The student will pass a written
quiz with a score of 70% or better.
Depth of field is the area that is in focus in front of and behind the subject that is also in
focus. Depth of field is determined by two factors:

Aperture (f-stop)
Distance from the subject

The smaller the aperture, the longer the depth of field. An aperture of f/22 produces a
longer depth of field while an aperture of f/2.8 produces a short depth of field. Look at
the pictures below. Picture A was taken with an f-stop of f/16. Notice how you can see all
of the detail clearly in the background. Picture B was taken using an f-stop of f/2.8. The
tires in the background are not in sharp focus. The only difference was in the aperture
setting. Notice that in both pictures, the center of focus is the flower.

Picture A

Picture B

Distance is also a factor in depth of field. Faraway scenes have a greater depth of field than
close-ups. Since distance from the subject is usually determined by the picture you want,
the main control for depth of field is the f-stop. However, you can also control the amount
of light reaching the film by the shutter speed you choose. The slower the shutter speed, the
more light you let into the camera. You can cut down this amount of light by using a
smaller aperture. The smaller the aperture, the longer the depth of field.

On the other hand, the faster the shutter speed, the more light you need. The aperture must
now be made larger which shortens the depth of field.

f/16 at 1/60 second

more depth of field
f/11 at 1/125 second
f/8 at 1/250 second
less depth of field
Notice that for each stop you increase or decrease the shutter speed, you can make a onetime increase or decrease in the f-stop. F/11 at 1/125 second can be changed to f/16 at 1/60
second. This increases the depth of field. If you want to decrease the depth of field, you can
use f/8 at 1/250 second.
You cannot always control the depth of field. If there is very little light, you must shoot at a
large aperture and a slow shutter speed to get a picture. You can only get a long depth of
field when there is enough light to use a small aperture.
Being able to choose your depth of field proves useful. You can draw attention to the
subject, blurring out everything else or you can use a longer depth of field to make most of
the picture clearly focused. Depth of field allows you to be creative in taking pictures.
Depth of field is greater behind the focused subject than in front of it. An example would be
if you set the camera at f/5.6 and focused on an object 30 feet away, the depth of field is 11
feet in front of the subject, but 36 feet behind the subject. This means that the focused
subject is located about 1/3 of the way into the depth of field. Therefore, to get the most
effect from your depth of field, focus one third of the way into your scene.