From the course: Learning Portrait Photography

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Setting depth of field

Setting depth of field

From the course: Learning Portrait Photography

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Setting depth of field

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- Controlling depth of field is a really creative tool in our photography. Depth of field means how much of the picture is in focus from front to back. So if I focus on Christy's eyes, I can make her eyes in focus and the background completely out of focus. And that really draws my attention and helps me focus on the important things in a photograph. Depth of field is controlled by three things. First of all is the aperture in the lens, how big I open the opening coming into the lens, that's the f stop. When I use a very large aperture, less of the picture will be in focus from front to back. When I come closer to my subject I also decrease the depth of field. If I back up, more of the picture will be in focus, I'll have a deeper depth of field. If I use a long lens, a telephoto lens, if I zoom in, I also decrease the depth of field. So using these three things I can maximize aspect of focus and really draw attention to the most important things in a photograph of a person. Usually we…

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