Depth of View

[radicalmatzo]

Hey guys, I am a rookie trying to take better quality and more intricate shots. I need help with this, and excuse my lack of knowledge and I apologize if I don't have the terminology down. I am trying to take more photos where the main object I want to capture is in focus, and the rest of the scenery around that object is out of focus. I am just wondering what settings on a camera or what the elements are involved with taking pics like this. Again, apologize for being a rookie!! Thanks for any input.

 

[BraveUlysses]

I think that what you're asking about is DEPTH OF FIELD. Search the posts here - there's 75000 of them that mention DoF... Try Google as well.

Best if luck, and don't ever apologise for being a n00b. Everyone, everywhere, had to do everything that they do for the first time at some point.
--
Rob

If you're bored...
http://braveulysses.deviantart.com/
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'Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything.' Sydney Smith (1771-1845)

 

[El Jefe]

Another related term is "bokeh," a search on that might give you some more info. I was looking into it today myself... just got my S6000fd yesterday, and a test macro shot (on a flower of course, haha) yielded a nice background blur effect

 

[Hellashot]

wide appeture (lower f number)

close subject distance

and longer lens focal length.

It is very difficult to get good bokeh on a P&S camera because they have very short focal lengths and because of their sensor size their wide appeture really isn't that wide.

You need a dSLR with a 100 f2 or 85 f1.8 to get good bokeh without spenindg $1000+ on a 300mm f2.8 lens

 

[radicalmatzo]

I just got a nikon d80 with a 18-135mm lens...so i'm just trying to get a feel for where i should start practicing and what settings and adjustments i should have.

 

[udaman]

Depth of Field Calculator
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

1) Pick your camera
2) pick your Marked Focal Length on your lens (not the 1.5x Crop factor)
3) Pick your F/stop you want to use
4) fill in how far the sunject is. in Feet or Meters

Hit
View results on right side

Example
Nikon D80 135mm
F/8 10 feet

DOF Near and far:

Near limit (From) 9.75 ft Far limit (To) 10.3 ft
Total 0.51 ft (you have above 6 inches in focus)

I just got a nikon d80 with a 18-135mm lens...so i'm just trying to
get a feel for where i should start practicing and what settings
and adjustments i should have.

--
'Well, Good Luck With That' (SpongeBob SquarePants)

Peter



Enjoy your photography images, even if your wife doesn't ! ;-(
http://laurence-photography.com/
http://www.pbase.com/peterarbib/
Cameras in profile.

 

[radicalmatzo]

thank you....you guys are awesome, i really appreciate it

 

[jfriedl]

Depth of Field Calculator
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

1) Pick your camera
2) pick your Marked Focal Length on your lens (not the 1.5x Crop
factor)
3) Pick your F/stop you want to use
4) fill in how far the subject is. in Feet or Meters

If you already have an image and wonder what the depth of field is, you can view it with my online exif viewer and, if all the requisite details remain in the exif, it will report the DOF.

http://regex.info/exif.cgi

Here are two examples:

http://regex.info/exif.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fregex.info%2Fi%2FJEF_027338.jpg
http://regex.info/exif.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fregex.info%2Fi%2FJEF_027338.jpg

Jeffrey

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Jeffrey Friedl -- Kyoto, Japan -- http://regex.info/blog/

 

[BraveUlysses]

You need a dSLR with a 100 f2 or 85 f1.8 to get good bokeh without
spenindg $1000+ on a 300mm f2.8 lens

OOh ooh ooh - Do you know where I can get a 300 f/2.8 Nikkor for $1k???? Tell me, please. Most I've seen are much nearer $7000 than $1000. The lower figure will probably get you a nice 300 f/4 though...

--
Rob

If you're bored...
http://braveulysses.deviantart.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything.' Sydney Smith (1771-1845)

 

[MusicDoctorDJ]

It is very difficult to get good bokeh on a P&S camera because they
have very short focal lengths and because of their sensor size
their wide appeture really isn't that wide.

I beg to differ with that statement:



(taken with a Panasonic FZ10)

It all comes down to camera technique . . . just as it does with a DSLR!

Depth of field, or lack there of, just doesn't happen all by itself!

By the way . . . anyone have the definition of the word 'bokeh'?

--
J. M. Daniels
Denver, Colorado
Panasonic FZ10, FZ50 & Fuji S602Z owner & operator

 

[udaman]

A long time ago, I heard a dity on the origan of this word. I beleive it is from a Japanese word though.
--
'Well, Good Luck With That' (SpongeBob SquarePants)

Peter



Enjoy your photography images, even if your wife doesn't ! ;-(
http://laurence-photography.com/
http://www.pbase.com/peterarbib/
Cameras in profile.

 

[jfriedl]

(taken with a Panasonic FZ10)

That's a lovely shot, but would you classify the FZ10 as a "point-n-shoot"? I'd venture to say that any camera that has metering modes is beyond a P&S. Phil classifies it as "SLR-like".

It all comes down to camera technique . . . just as it does with a
DSLR!

The problem with a common point-n-shoot is that you have little control over the exposure, so there's not much more to the technique than to point and, er, shoot.

By the way . . . anyone have the definition of the word 'bokeh'?

As the other replier noted, it's from the Japanese word "boke" (ボケ).

I describe the origin and meanings a bit in this blog post, "Funky Spectral Highlights in my Bokeh"...

http://regex.info/blog/2007-01-03/324

Jeffrey

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeffrey Friedl -- Kyoto, Japan -- http://regex.info/blog/

 

[mamallama]

It is very difficult to get good bokeh on a P&S camera because they
have very short focal lengths and because of their sensor size
their wide appeture really isn't that wide.

I beg to differ with that statement:

It all comes down to camera technique . . . just as it does with a
DSLR!

Depth of field, or lack there of, just doesn't happen all by itself!

Yes, it comes down to camera technique. And for a small sensor P&S, about the only technique left is changing the subject to camera distance. It's well established that the DOF is dependent on only 4 things as stated here in dpreview:

"Depth of field is affected by the aperture, subject distance, focal length, and film or sensor format".

For a small P&S three are limited and working against a shallow DOF and only "subject distance" is wide open. So if you see any image with shallow DOF taken with a small P&S you can bet the subject distance is small. It's simple to figure out here:

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Optical/Depth_of_Field_01.htm

--mamallama

 

[MusicDoctorDJ]

Still wondering what 'bokeh' is?

Anyone got an answer?

Footnote: I don't consider the FZ series of camera a P&S . . . but many here do!
--
J. M. Daniels
Denver, Colorado
Panasonic FZ10, FZ50 & Fuji S602Z owner & operator

 

[jfriedl]

Still wondering what 'bokeh' is?
Anyone got an answer?

Is the explanation in the link (on the post to which you replied) somehow lacking? If so, please let me know so that I can update the page the link points to.

Jeffrey

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeffrey Friedl -- Kyoto, Japan -- http://regex.info/blog/

 

[MusicDoctorDJ]

Sorry . . . didn't see your link (since it was buried at the bottom of your post).
--
J. M. Daniels
Denver, Colorado
Panasonic FZ10, FZ50 & Fuji S602Z owner & operator