Depth of Field (DOF) refers to the distance between the farthest and nearest points which are in focus. It can also be identified as the zone of acceptable sharpness in front of and behind the subject. In the picture of Nemo, above, you’ll notice that in the left hand shot he’s totally in focus, from gills to tail fin. In the right hand shot, his tail fin is blurry.

When you take a picture, there are several factors which can control or impact your depth of field. Less depth of field is called “small” or “narrow” or “shallow”. Having great depth of field is called a “wide” or “large” depth of field.

There are lots of reasons why you may want to control the depth of field, and make it narrower or wider. Most of these are because of artistic decisions, when you want to force attention to one part of the picture, or when you want to obscure another. » MORE

It’s time for a New Years resolution. Say it with me. “This year, I vow to change my dried up shooting angles.”

Let’s be frank. The dead-on angle of view is dead. Very few pictures look good when you pose your subject and take a straight, eye-level picture of them.

By simply changing the position of the camera higher, lower, or tilting it, you can come up with some much more exciting results. » MORE

Everything happens in threes. I’m not entirely sure that’s true, but somebody once said that and it seemed like an appropriate way to start this article, because that’s how a lot of the world’s strongest photographers see the world.

Just about anyone who has taken a photo class or read a photography book knows about the rule of thirds. However, given that cameras these days have come down in price so dramatically, we have a lot more lay people shooting high-end cameras… and not everyone has been exposed to this little tidbit of wisdom.

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