Differences in depth of field
Globe and Mail photographer Fred Lum gives some tips and tricks on how to use depth of field and adjust your focus
I've now opened up my aperture to f4 which changes the photo quite a bit and narrows the depth of field rendering the background softer and drawing the eyes to the handle. You have to decide how you want the out of focus areas to look and whether you want elements in the background to still be recognizable.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The last example in this series shows an extremely fine and narrow depth of field achieved by opening the lens up fully to f1.4. Everything except for the plane of focus is now thrown out of focus. This is a useful technique for portraiture but one has to be careful not to become too reliant on this look and to continue to explore the use of depth of field to enhance their photography.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Another example of subtle differences in depth of field. A basic photo of two people reading a map. All are in focus and it's a photograph of what you see.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Use a shallower depth of field and keep the focus on the foreground element and let everything else drop out of focus slightly. You can still understand what's happening in the photo but the emphasis has moved to the man in the hoodie and one is left to wonder what he's thinking at this moment while he stares at the map.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
This security fence that was set up outside Hunstville, Ont. for the recent G8 Summit is a good example of a situation where I wanted to have a very deep depth of field. The fence started on the highway then snaked its way through the woods and I wanted to show the fence as it disappeared into the trees. Perhaps give a sense of what residents and delegates had to deal with during the summit.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
While riding a bus between venues at the Beijing Olympics, I was staring at nothing when the diffuse lights of cars outside the window caught my eye. I grabbed my camera and decided the out of focus red lights would work well with very shallow focus on the rain streaming down the windows. As I look at this photo years later, I'm brought back to this moment and all it needed to make it perfect was Janis Joplin singing about windshield wipers slappin' time...Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail