DoF workshop

DoF stands for : Depth of Field, it is a photography term used to describe the 'blurriness' of the background of the photograph, or sometimes it is in the foreground.

It means that whatever is being focused on will be drawing the attention of the viewer because the eye can easily distinguish what the subject is with little effort and it is easier for the eye to look at.

DoF should be understood by all photographers as it can be used effectively in all genres of photography, shallow DoF can be used in portraits and artistic still lifes to highlight certain areas of the objects and to make them stand out against the background. Large Dof works efectively with commercial shots where the product must be fully in focus so potential buyers can gain a complete vision of the product, and it also works for landscapes so that the foreground flowers and the field in the background can both be in focus and clearly seen.

It is always best to experiment with different DoF's in every shoot as sometimes when you think it might not look right it can lead you to getting a better shot than before.

DoF can quickly be changed by changing the F stop; a small number means that the DoF will be small (only a small amount in focus), and then as the number increases so does the range that is in focus, The position of the subject will also affect how the DoF looks, if the subject is closer to the camera the range of focus will be smaller and the further away the bigger the focus range will be. This is also true of moving the subject from the background, if the subject is near the background then most likely the background will be in the range of focus, to clearly see the DoF changing move the subject away from the background and take the same photograph three times on three different F stops, the background will change 'blurriness'