Depth of Field

                                                  Depth of Field

    is the distance between near and far objects which appear in or out of focus depends on what camera settings you choose, so actually it means how much of the photograph is in focus. The 3 main things to control depth of field are aperture, distance and focal length.

- Aperture: Easiest way to manipulate the depth of field by adjusting aperture. Low F-stops give short DoF, High F-stops give long DoF.

- Distance between camera and subject: To increase depth of field, move back; to reduce it, move closer.

- Focal length: At a given distance, at a given aperture, the longer the focal length of the lens (200), the shallower the depth of field is and the smaller the focal length of the lens (35mm) ,the wider the DoF is. 

Shallow depth of field:
   
   is when only a part of your image is in focus while the other are blurred. There is a word use in photography "BOKEH" which means the blur of an image. It can be pleasant (smooth Bokeh) or unpleasant (rough Bokeh) to the eye. So if you want to blur the distracting background for example on a portrait image or close ups object. All attention of the viewer is on the subject. To get a nice shallow depth of field you need to set your camera aperture to a small F-stop, like F1.8 - F3 and increase the shutter speed to 1/125th of a sec as an example, because if you don't use a fast shutter speed your image will be over exposed.

Wide depth of field:
    is when the hole image is in focus and very sharp. Usually used for landscape images. To get a nice wide depth of field you need your aperture should be very small F22/F16 and the shutter speed should be very slow around 1/30th of a sec as an example to let in enough light and get a correct exposure. You should use a tripod to avoid camera shake at slow shutter speed which can cause unwanted blur on the image.

* Meter Modes

   The metering mode is used to measure the brightness of the shot you want to snap (where you pointing the camera). Here is a few metering modes what you can find in your camera menu.

Spot Metering
Partial metering
Center-Weighted Metering
Evaluative metering

I will explain these modes later on if I get use to it.