Sunday, January 17, 2010

Playing with depth of field - 365/17

I have been reading some of my favourite photography blogs in an attempt to improve my photography. I have been a point and shoot with no regard for composition, lighting, etc for a long time and now I want to actually tell a story or evoke a feeling with photography. At the moment I am using a camera without any manual settings so I am finding ways around that. I read to get the effect of the background out of focus with an automatic camera you use the full extent of the zoom lens on your subject and have them stand away from the background in question. I'm quite pleased with how this image turned out. I'm going to try using a tripod next time to see if I can get my point of focus even sharper.

Here are some of the blogs I've been enjoying reading:

What are some blogs or sites you enjoy for improving your photography?

4 comments:

  1. Have a look under the HELP blogroll on my 365.

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  2. Great shot... I like the emotion that is shown through her eyes. You captured this well!

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  3. Hello Jane,
    I was sifting through my back links and found your blog. Thanks for the mention.

    Something you might consider is this: with your automatic camera which doesn't have aperture controls, you could find areas where you have 2 zones of lightness and darkness--an overhead skylight might be a good one.

    If you place your subject in the bright area and photograph her, you are also eliminating distractions in the background, although not with depth-of-field.

    In that situation, the light might be too contrasty, so throw in a white or silver reflector to fill in the shadows.

    But that's a good technique to master for portraiture.

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  4. Go to photo.net and go to forums. Plenty there to learn from.
    DL

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