Depth of Field

Poppy Pods
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

One of the harder things to teach new photographers is depth of field (DOF) and out of focus (OOF) considerations when making a photograph. DOF is controlled largely by the aperture, however, the exposure characteristics must be taken into account. Good DOF depends on a small aperture, hence a slower shutter speed. The focal length of the lens determines how much of the background will be in focus. Obviously, if you want foreground and background to be in focus, you go for a wide-angle lens. If you want a great OOF background, then opt for a telephoto. In this case, I used my Tamron 80-200mm zoom with a 2x diopter to get these poppy seed capsules close-up, yet rendering the background soft and OOF. Aperture was probably f16. I used a tripod and a lens shade, too. Image was made on Fuji Astia.