{"id":3749,"date":"2012-01-21T18:34:52","date_gmt":"2012-01-21T23:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/?p=3749"},"modified":"2012-01-21T18:34:52","modified_gmt":"2012-01-21T23:34:52","slug":"depth-of-field-experiments-parts-2-and-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2012\/01\/21\/depth-of-field-experiments-parts-2-and-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Depth of Field Experiments – Parts 2 and 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

You might remember my previous experiments with depth of field <\/a>– well, with my new camera<\/a> (and new lenses), I decided to re-run those experiments.<\/p>\n

As a refresher, this is the result of my first experiment with trying to control depth of field:<\/p>\n

\"depth<\/a><\/p>\n

This was taken with my old Canon PowerShot S3 IS camera, with an aperture of f\/3.5, an exposure of 1\/8th of a second, and a focal length of 25.2mm (equivalent to 159mm in traditional 35mm terms).<\/p>\n

In other words, to get this effect, I had to zoom in a bit and set the focus as close as I could to the front bottle of wine. Even so, the bottles in the back, although blurred, were still identifiable. My old camera (like most point & shoot or non-interchangeable lens cameras) was just not capable of creating very shallow depth of field (at least, outside of super-macro mode when focusing on something only an inch away from the lens).<\/p>\n

When I got my new camera, one of the first things I did was re-run this experiment.<\/p>\n

\"dof<\/a><\/p>\n

This was the best I could do with the stock (kit) lens that came with my new camera. This was taken with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2 camera, using a 14-42mm (28-84mm in 35mm terms) f\/3.5-5.6 zoom lens. The aperture was f\/3.5 (as in my previous experiment) and the exposure was 1\/13th of a second, with a focal length of 42mm (84mm equivalent).<\/p>\n

As you can see, the results were pretty much the same as in my original experiment, with perhaps a little bit more background blur, due largely to the fact that my new camera has a larger sensor (and thus, as I’ve mentioned before<\/a>, the same f-stop number actually means a slightly larger physical<\/em> aperture).<\/p>\n

More recently, however, I got a new, faster lens (that is, one with a larger aperture – meaning, a smaller maximum f-stop number). Specifically, I got a 20mm (40mm equiv.) f\/1.7 lens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Naturally, almost as soon as I got it, I tried re-running my experiment again. (I was in a bit of a hurry though, so I didn’t pull out all my wine bottles; instead I opted for just one.) This was the result:<\/p>\n

\"depth-of-field<\/a><\/p>\n

The larger aperture (smaller f-number) of this new lens gives a very, very<\/em> shallow depth of field, allowing me to completely blur out the background.<\/p>\n

This picture was taken at the same place as all the others, but now the background (in particular, the orange & red wall hanging) is much, much<\/em> more blurred out – almost to the point where you can’t make out what it is.<\/p>\n

This last picture’s technical details are: 20mm (40mm equiv.), f\/1.7, and 1\/50th of a second exposure.<\/p>\n

As you can see, with the much larger aperture, I was finally able to achieve that shallow depth of field I’d always wanted.<\/p>\n

Even though this new lens has a fixed focal length (a.k.a. it’s a “prime” lens, meaning it can’t zoom at all), it is now my go-to lens, especially for indoors photos. That’s because, in addition to the nice shallow depth of field, the larger aperture also means it lets in more light, which lets me take photos in low light (e.g., indoors) at a faster shutter speed (and also, lower ISO setting) than my other lens or my old camera could.<\/p>\n

In the end, all these experiments with depth of field and different lenses (and cameras!) have taught me a lot, and helped me get a “gut feeling” understanding of depth of field and focus and how they relate to one another. (Time will tell whether this actually leads to taking better photos.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More experiments into understanding and controlling depth of field (or the lack thereof) – this time, with my new camera and new lenses!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[204],"tags":[305,92],"class_list":["post-3749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photography-pictures","tag-depth-of-field","tag-photography","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pimUj-Yt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1506,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2008\/11\/10\/depth-of-field-experiments\/","url_meta":{"origin":3749,"position":0},"title":"Depth of Field Experiments","author":"Keith Survell","date":"November 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Some experiments into understanding (and controlling) depth of field (or the lack thereof).","rel":"","context":"In "Pictures"","block_context":{"text":"Pictures","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/pictures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"wine line up","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3295\/3015399273_2ab12a3f9e.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4500,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2014\/01\/23\/aperture-focal-length-sensor-size\/","url_meta":{"origin":3749,"position":1},"title":"Photography Experiments: Aperture, Focal Length, and Sensor Size","author":"Keith Survell","date":"January 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a quick photography experiment to demonstrate the effects that aperture, focal length, and sensor size can have on depth of field (i.e., how much you can blur the background of a photo.)","rel":"","context":"In "Photography"","block_context":{"text":"Photography","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/pictures\/photography-pictures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"snow on pine tree branch - f5.6","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.staticflickr.com\/3770\/12086166773_5f8cff5794_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.staticflickr.com\/3770\/12086166773_5f8cff5794_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.staticflickr.com\/3770\/12086166773_5f8cff5794_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3756,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2012\/01\/28\/same-picture-different-lenses\/","url_meta":{"origin":3749,"position":2},"title":"Same Picture, Different Lenses","author":"Keith Survell","date":"January 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"More experiments with digital photography - this time, learning the differences that different lenses (and different focal lengths) produce!","rel":"","context":"In "Photography"","block_context":{"text":"Photography","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/pictures\/photography-pictures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"my manga shelf 3","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7172\/6614872947_155e0cba2d.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3680,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2011\/12\/04\/finally-time-for-a-new-camera\/","url_meta":{"origin":3749,"position":3},"title":"Finally Time for a New Camera","author":"Keith Survell","date":"December 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"IT IS TIME... for me to finally upgrade to a better camera.","rel":"","context":"In "Photography"","block_context":{"text":"Photography","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/pictures\/photography-pictures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Panasonic G2 + Konica Hexanon 50\/1.7","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5106\/5627039842_13e49325c7_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3230,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2010\/12\/03\/not-all-f-stops-are-created-equal\/","url_meta":{"origin":3749,"position":4},"title":"Not all F-Stops are Created Equal","author":"Keith Survell","date":"December 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Explaining why that blurry background effect is harder to get on your point & shoot camera, even though you might have it set to the same f-stop as a DSLR.","rel":"","context":"In "Photography"","block_context":{"text":"Photography","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/pictures\/photography-pictures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"camera sensor comparison","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2010\/12\/camera-sensor-comparison.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1056,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2008\/03\/03\/focus-focus\/","url_meta":{"origin":3749,"position":5},"title":"Focus… Focus!","author":"Keith Survell","date":"March 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been fiddling around with my camera again lately, and my feature-of-fiddling has been aperture, as it relates to the focus of the camera. Like a lot of people who get into photography (or so I assume), it's a little mind-bending at first with all the terms... focal length, depth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pictures"","block_context":{"text":"Pictures","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/pictures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"lettuce closeup","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2236\/2303305594_0a3a224749.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3749\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}