Westcott University — Understanding Depth of Field with Terry White

In photography, depth of field can be the difference between an average image and an exceptional image. Depth of field is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in focus, in an image. Westcott Top Pro Elite photographer and educator Terry White discusses the importance of depth of field in this Photography Quick Tip.

By focusing on the detail in the Modern Vintage Backdrop behind this beautiful model, you can see how greatly aperture settings can affect an image. An aperture setting increases or decreases the size of hole through which light enters your camera. These settings, known as F-stops, not only increase or decrease the brightness of your image, but also increase and decrease the depth of field. The smaller the hole allowing light to enter, the shorter the depth of field will become.

You can decrease the focus on the background by simply moving the backdrop further away from your subject or by lower your f-stop. The below images show common f-stop settings between f1.4 and f5.6. Typical camera lenses have aperture setting between f3.5 and f5.6. However, higher-end lenses often are able to be set much lower than that.