Depth of Field

Credit goes to Amber Fox and Caroline Hudson of the Facebook group High School Photography Educators for the lesson idea, resources and WAGOLL images.

Practicing Depth of Field

Watch This Video: Depth of field | Khan Academy then do the next activity called 'practicing depth of field'. Before coming back here and completing this lesson.

View this Slideshow: Depth of Field

Assignment:

  1. Collect 5+ items from around your house and set them up on a flat surface.

  2. Arrange items so that some are close to the camera, some are slightly farther away, and some are far away from camera.

  3. The deeper the space you set up, the easier you will see the effects of Depth of Field.

  4. Set your camera to Portrait Mode or use the Focos App

  5. If you are using Portrait Mode, Click on the f symbol in the upper right corner. Slide finger across screen to change the f stop

  6. Take 3+ pictures of your scene * F2.8 (or lower), F8, and F16. If you are an Android, then take your shot and manipulate the f-stops after to show the different depths of fields. If you are on the Focos App please refer to slide #17 that explains how to use it.


  1. Try to capture:

  • 1 Shallow Depth of Field photo (1 object in focus)

  • 1 Medium Depth of Field photo (a few objects in focus)

  • 1 Deep Depth of Field Photo (everything in focus)

  • You can also edit your pics to increase your contrast and saturation, and please label each shot with the aperture you used. You can use your mobile phone or the free Snapseed app to edit.


  1. Put all three images in a collage using your phone or the PicCollage app. Watch these YouTube videos which show you how to do this: Phone collage, PicCollage app.

  2. Go back to Google classroom and and turn in your collage.

WAGOLL

Below are examples of the collage of photographs you will create following this lesson:

Practicing Depth of Field Assignment #2

This is a really fun assignment and totally powerful to see how you can transform a random location to something amazing. I love when I can transform a space next to a petrol station or a alleyway and then make into an incredible backdrop!

  1. Use a person or object as your subject

  2. Take photos of your subject in 5 seemingly boring or ugly places

  3. Use close cropping to completely fill the camera frame with your subject

  4. Use a Shallow Depth of Field (Large Aperture/Low F Stop #) to blur the background on each of your photos. Take 1 photo with Deep Depth of Field and observe how your subject is in focus and the background falls out of focus.

  5. Do this 5 different times with different locations. Take a photograph of your location too.

  6. You can use your mobile phone or the free Snapseed app to edit.

  7. Create a collage of your five favourite photographs using your phone or PicCollage. Watch these YouTube videos which show you how to do this: Phone collage, PicCollage app.

  8. I would also like to see a collage of your locations (so that means you are turning in two collages).

WAGOLL

  1. Below are examples of the collage of photographs you will create following this lesson:

Collage of locations
Photographs taken at the location
Collage of locations
Photographs taken at the location