Sometimes, BLURRY is Better … and LESS IS MORE! The Opposite is also sometimes True! Creative Arts Thursday/Friday

~ Depth of Field ~ 

• The zone of acceptable sharpness within a photo that will appear in f ocus .

• In every picture there is a certain area of your image in front of, and behind the subject

that will appear in focus .

In plain English … 

√ What you selectively focus on will obviously be the focal point …  the subject/object/area of interest in your photo

√ But sometimes, more of what you selectively focus on, is also in focus … and distracts from the subject/object/area of interest in your photo

√ Not every shooting situation allows the ideal control of depth-of-field … but when such control is possible, exploit it.

NOTE: This discussion won't be a tutorial on HOW to control depth-of-field (if there's interest, that will be for another discussion), rather, it is intended to give awareness as to how it can enhance or detract from the effectiveness of a photograph.

Wild Columbine Flower … In this photo, the blurred background (SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD) makes the subject stand out.

© A. Mac/A.G.

But, in this photo, the Golden Poppies, while standing out because of their size in the composition, and, bright color, would stand out more effectively without all the distracting elements in front of and behind them. The DEPTH OF FIELD in this photo is too "deep" so-to-speak.

© A. Mac/A.G.

This photo has significant DEPTH OF FIELD and is appropriate for conveying the subject's literal depth in context.

© A. Mac/A.G.