But the distance to the subject has a big influence also. A shallower aperture will increase the depth of field. If you dive into the world of depth of field, you know how the depth of field is firstly determined by the aperture. Increase the Distance Between the Foreground and Background These techniques are not limited to landscape photography. I use three ways of achieving a shallow depth of field. Just see what the heck you can create with the lowest f-stop your camera will let you try.By using a smaller depth of field, the image gets a lot of depth Focus on the object in the back, making the foreground blurry. Focus on the object in the front, making the background blurry. If you like the soft, dreamy, blurry look to your images then go for it! Set your camera to f/2.8 or f/4 and just give it a whirl. Win-win I would say.Īnd finally, it can be just for artistic effect. In that case, you can adjust your vision of the photo you want to create, adapting for a shallower depth of field, so that your camera is happier with more light. So sometimes regardless of whether you want a shallow or deep depth of field, a low aperture number is a good idea just for the amount of light it lets in. Now if you’re thinking what does light have to do with dreamy blur? Let’s talk about that.Ī shallow depth of field is achieved with a low aperture number, which also means a big hole in your lens and therefore lots of light. If you find yourself low in the light department, say the beginning or end of the day, inside, cloudy day.you might want to think about using a low aperture number. So the range of your aperture depends on your lens. And the size of that opening is measured in f-stops. Remember, the aperture is the opening in your lens. F/4 will even get you some pretty shallow depth of field, if that’s the lowest number your lens goes to. Let’s talk first about how exactly you achieve a shallow depth of field, shall we? That effect is achieved with a small aperture number or f-stop. It’s that soft, dreamy, blurred area of the photo made with a shallow depth of field. It’s specifically for those shot intentionally with sharply focused bits, and blurry bits. So not just all blurry photos have bokeh. Bokeh is a Japanese term used to describe that blurry area of your photo, produced by your lens. Just in case you’re wondering what the heck bokeh is.I was getting to that.

Ahhh.just thinking about that softly blurred bokeh in the background makes me smile. You often see shallow depth of field in portraits, where the face or even just the eyes are sharply focused, and the rest of the background is softly blurred. The purpose is to bring attention to that particular in-focus area or object more so than the not-so-in-focus areas. So what exactly is this “shallow depth of field”? Well it's when only a small portion of the image is sharply focused. He’s not the biggest fan of that particular style. He has said something like, hmmm you really like that shallow depth of field, don’t you” and that’s how I knew. My husband, on the other hand, really likes it when everything is in focus. I don’t know exactly why, but I’m drawn to it. And one of the patterns in my photos? Shallow depth of field. But now I recognize more of a consistency. Until I learned something new.Īnd it still changes. I would just try whatever new trick or skill I learned at the time, and all of my photos would look like that. So no, 10 years ago I didn’t really have a photographic style. Yet.īecause style is something that develops and changes over time.

Now I do recall back in the day being asked about “my style” and thinking “I don’t know what the hell my style is!” And you might not either. I’m in love with shallow depth of field as a style choice when I make photos.

Shallow depth of field f stop