Understanding depth of field in photography can be simple to understand in theory, but in practice is usually difficult to master. I must admit, I still mess up, most people think its as simple as shooting wide open, as much as your lens allows. But this is not necessarily the case.
Shooting wide open does not necessarily guarantee your subject to be sharp, there are many variables. Things such as distance from you and your subject, are you using a zoom lens and at what mm are you shooting?
A good example can be found in the picture on your left. I shot this using a Nikon 80-200mm AFD 2.8 lens at 155mm wide open at 2.8 with a shutter speed of 1/1000 sec. I don’t recall the distance I was from her, but if you click on the image and enlarge it, you will see that her nose is the sharpest point of the image. By shooting wide open at 2.8, the dept of field was too shallow to have all of her sharp in focus. Her face is sharp, but most of her hair, necklace and ears are not.
In this particular case a wide open 2.8 aperture setting was over kill in my opinion. Yes, its nice to have the ability to shoot at 2.8 at 155mm, but I could have shot it at 5.6 and still have blurred out the background since it was so far away. So you can see how its not how expensive a lens costs, but the ability of the photographer to produce good or better images. For this one, I believe it is a good picture, but could have been a lot better. Hope this sheds some light in understanding depth of field in photography for you. Happy shooting!
There is a little private, well kept park near where I live and its the perfect place to photograph models. The landscape is beautiful and the grounds overall are kept in pristine condition. During the week you can shoot there and have the entire park to yourself, its perfect for any photographer! I’ve shared pictures of this place in past posts here.
I photographed this lovely lady at this park and used a simple park bench as my main setting. A feisty and very intelligent woman, she was so energetic that the couple of hours we shot felt like only like a few minutes.
Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, when I took a different model to this location I noticed the park had placed signs around the entrances stating that no “professional” photography would be allowed without a permit. In fact a security guard came to us after our shoot and told me that in the future they may not allow me to shoot there “because of the type of camera” I had. I never take any reflectors, external lights or anything, but I guess its all up to the park rangers to determine if its “professional” or not. No worries, I can shoot with my Canon PowerShot G11 10MP and get similar results!
Don't be afraid to add some color to your pictures and home!
Don’t be afraid to add some color to your pictures and home! I received an email from a reader who asked for ideas about where to shoot models where he didn’t have to ask for permission or pay for permits, but gave him the privacy to shoot at his pace. My answer: your own home!
If you have a backyard with at least some privacy from your neighbors, that’s the best place to start. If its messy or dirty, then fix it up and make it look nice, paint your home, doors, add planters and flowers. You may be doing it for the shoot but you’ll also enjoy some great barbecues with friends and family throughout the year. It doesn’t need to be elaborate or a large space, but I do suggest you add color. Try shooting next to solid colors and have your model add an additional color with her outfit.
The picture on the left is a good example. Taken in the backyard, the side of the house was a basic white and the door and trim a solid green. A simple yellow skirt added that additional color that made this picture a little more interesting. Oh yeah, the lovely lady also helped!
Last night, Nikon announced one of their new point & shoot cameras, the Coolpix S1100pj. This 14.1 megapixel camera seems to look like many other P&S Nikons except for one thing, it’s also a projector! A neat feature, I personally would never have thought of, but I’m sure its great for showing pictures and video at a family gathering or in an impromptu situation. This model replaces the Nikon Coolpix S1000pj, which is very similar to this newer model, from the link you can see how the price of the Nikon S1000pj has dropped.
I normally don’t talk so much about a regular point & shoot camera, but if the projector feature turns out to be powerful enough to do what is show in the promo video below, I suspect other makers will start to add this to their line of cameras.
For several months I’ve been waiting for Nikon to announce and release their new DSLR cameras. This year I must admit, Canon is ahead of the game and it almost seems strange that Nikon hasn’t released a new replacement for the D700, with more MP’s and HD video comparable to Canon. Not that I was in the market for a new Nikon D700s or whatever they plan on calling it, but I always expect Nikon and Canon to match each other.
The only rumored announced by Nikon next month is the D90 and D3000 replacements, which may be named the Nikon D95 and D3100 respectively, according to NikonRumors.com. I’ve noticed that the price of the D90 has gone back up to its regular price in the mid $850 and has not dropped to its low earlier in the year of $745. This tells me they were trying to liquidate their supply and the few that are left are being listed now at regular price. With Nikon, this normally happens a few months before they are about to release a new camera model.
But who knows, we may have to wait longer. For those waiting for a Nikon D700s to be announced or released, you may need to hold on a little longer. In the meantime, look at this pretty woman to calm your excitement!
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