Shallow Depth of Field...I Think I'm In Love

I’ll admit it. I’m in love with shallow depth of field as a style choice when I make photos. I use it a LOT. Now I do recall back in the day being asked about “my style” and thinking “I don’t know what the hell my style is!” And you might not either. Yet.

Because style is something that develops and changes over time. So no, 10 years ago I didn’t really have a photographic style. I would just try whatever new trick or skill I learned at the time, and all of my photos would look like that. Until I learned something new.

And it still changes. But now I recognize more of a consistency. A pattern in my photos. And that’s really all that style is. And one of the patterns in my photos? Shallow depth of field. I love it. I don’t know exactly why, but I’m drawn to it.

My husband, on the other hand, really likes it when everything is in focus. He has said something like, hmmm you really like that shallow depth of field, don’t you” and that’s how I knew. He’s not the biggest fan of that particular style.

So what exactly is this “shallow depth of field”? Well it's when only a small portion of the image is sharply focused. The purpose is to bring attention to that particular in-focus area or object more so than the not-so-in-focus areas.

This is an example of a street portrait made in Santa Fe, New Mexico shot with shallow depth of field (f/2.8). Notice the lady’s face is in focus, but the lights, people, bar are softly blurred in the background.

You often see shallow depth of field in portraits, where the face or even just the eyes are sharply focused, and the rest of the background is softly blurred. Ahhh...just thinking about that softly blurred bokeh in the background makes me smile. 

Just in case you’re wondering what the heck bokeh is...I was getting to that. Bokeh is a Japanese term used to describe that blurry area of your photo, produced by your lens. So not just all blurry photos have bokeh. It’s specifically for those shot intentionally with sharply focused bits, and blurry bits. Those blurry bits are your bokeh. It’s that soft, dreamy, blurred area of the photo made with a shallow depth of field.

Let’s talk first about how exactly you achieve a shallow depth of field, shall we? That effect is achieved with a small aperture number or f-stop. That can be f/2.8 or even smaller. F/4 will even get you some pretty shallow depth of field, if that’s the lowest number your lens goes to.

Remember, the aperture is the opening in your lens. And the size of that opening is measured in f-stops. So the range of your aperture depends on your lens. 

These are breakfast radishes (who knew) we picked up at the market in Toulouse. I thought they were so beautiful that I had to make their photo. So this is basically a food portrait photo, with aperture of f/2.8.

Now there are a few reasons why understanding the concept of depth of field, specifically the shallow version, is important. Let’s jump on into those now. Oooh, this is so much fun…isn’t it?? Are you getting antsy to get your camera out and give this a try?? Patience, grasshopper. We’ll get there soon.

First, a shallow depth of field can help you bring focus to your subject. Literally for one thing, but also it helps bring the viewer’s eye right to the subject. Our eyes tend to look at what’s in focus first. So by having only part of your image in focus, that helps give the viewer a starting point as she looks at your image.

And of course, you want your viewer to start with the subject since that is the most important part of the photo, right? So now that the subject is in focus and the background is blurred, the viewer has no doubt where to start when viewing your image, and what the subject is. 

In this photo, shot at f/4, the focus is the hand selecting the produce. To bring attention to the hand, and separate it from the rest of the market I used shallow depth of field.

Now the next reason for using shallow depth of field, is to separate your subject from its background. This is especially valuable if you have a particularly messy or distracting background. It can all become a lovely blur instead of ugly cars or garbage cans.

The subject here is the sculpture. But the background is pretty busy, since it’s at the Louvre and there are lots of people around. So by using f/4 I bring attention to and separate out my subject from the rest of the scene.

Moving on to the next reason. If you find yourself low in the light department, say the beginning or end of the day, inside, cloudy day...you might want to think about using a low aperture number. Now if you’re thinking what does light have to do with dreamy blur? Let’s talk about that.

A shallow depth of field is achieved with a low aperture number, which also means a big hole in your lens and therefore lots of light. So sometimes regardless of whether you want a shallow or deep depth of field, a low aperture number is a good idea just for the amount of light it lets in. In that case, you can adjust your vision of the photo you want to create, adapting for a shallower depth of field, so that your camera is happier with more light. Win-win I would say.

And finally, it can be just for artistic effect. Because you like it. Yes, you have that much power. If you like the soft, dreamy, blurry look to your images then go for it! Set your camera to f/2.8 or f/4 and just give it a whirl. Focus on the object in the front, making the background blurry. Focus on the object in the back, making the foreground blurry. Just see what the heck you can create with the lowest f-stop your camera will let you try.

This little guy joined us for breakfast in Paris. It was pretty dark inside and I wanted him to be the focus of the image, rather than the butter, croissant, and jam in the front. So an aperture of f/4 did the trick.

And if you don’t like your photos when made with a shallow depth of field? If you’d rather have them all crisp and focused? Then guess what? You’re starting to figure out your own style!

Because you don’t HAVE to like it, I mean my husband doesn’t and that’s OK. We all have our own taste, and this is just one example of a style to try out as you’re figuring out yours.

But sometimes even if you don’t love the shallow depth of field style on a regular basis, it will still come in handy for you, I’m pretty sure. Specifically for those, “wow that background really sucks but I love the subject so much” shots. But now that you know how it works, you’ll always have it in your back pocket, waiting for the perfect situation.

For this photo I was just playing around with shallow depth of field in Riquewihr, France while we were on a wine tour. I mean what else would you do?

So NOW it’s time to get out your camera. Figure out the lowest f-stop your camera and/or lens can go (if you have interchangeable lenses then each lens has a different aperture range, but if your lens is fixed then your camera/lens will have its own range). 

First, choose the aperture priority mode on your camera, and then go make some photos with the lowest f-stop selected, focusing on different objects. And then what? SHARE THEM! Come on over to the PhotoFluent Travelers Facebook Group and let us see what you’re up to. And of course, then you can also see what everyone else is doing with their depth of field too!

If this is still a little confusing and you want to get some help figuring it out…I have just the workshop for you! Check out Camera Settings For The Not-So-Tech-Savvy Traveler. Let me know if you have any questions!