Tag Archives: choosing

Morning Musings, Technique

Making Aperture Selection Easy (Morning Musing for 8/22/14)

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From time to time I see questions from photographers trying to figure out exactly which aperture is the “right” one for a particular photograph. Some will go so far as to consult depth of field calculators (or “DOF calculators”) to help them decide whether the should open up a third of a stop from f/11.

There may be times where that sort of precision aperture selection is useful, but in many cases you can make things a lot simpler*, basically selecting from one of three general options:

  1. If depth of field isn’t a big issue — let’s say you are shooting a relatively flat subject — simply use a “middle of the road” aperture that will be sharp on your lens/camera combination. The old rule of thumb about using f/8 is a decent one to follow here, although cropped sensor shooters might go for something more like f/5.6.
  2. If you need very deep depth of field, go straight to the smallest aperture you feel comfortable using. On a full frame camera this is likely to be about f/16, while on a cropped sensor camera it might be a bit larger, perhaps in the f/11 or so range. If your need for extra deep depth of field is strong enough that you are willing to give up a small degree of overall image sharpness — which will be invisible in small images anyway —  you might even go one stop smaller on some occasions to f/22 on full frame and f/16 on crop.
  3. If you need to limit depth of field to throw background elements out of focus, simply try the largest aperture that your lens has — but consider stopping down just a bit if you need just a bit more depth of field.

Basically, for most photographs, especially if you have good light and/or are using a tripod, you could probably get away with considering only three apertures in most cases — the “normal” one, the really small one, and the really big one.

  • Yes, this is a bit of a simplification, though it really does work in the vast majority of the photographs that most people are making. Clearly things can get a bit more complicated if you are, for example, shooting in very low light or need to deal with moving subjects. In the interest of keeping this “Easy” description easy, I’ll simply acknowledge those possibilities here without elaborating.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Equipment, Technique

Some Thoughts on Aperture and DOF and Related Issues

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(This post is slightly adapted from something I recently posted in a photography forum in which hyperfocal distance, “DOF calculation” software, and related issues were under discussion.)

Shooting as a way to learn to understand how things like depth of field or “hyperfocal distance” work is a great idea – it is perhaps the best way to understand these concepts. I firmly believe that it is better than relying on tools such as software DOF (“depth of field”) calculators or tables. Fortunately, it is easy to do some basic experiments related to aperture and DOF and the so-called hyperfocal distance.

(The term hyperfocal distance can be interpreted in a couple of ways. In photography, this is often thought of as the distance at which you might focus in order to place objects at different distances in focus. If there is an object that is 15 feet from the camera and there are important subjects at infinity, the hyperfocal distance lies beyond the object that is 15 feet away and closer than the far away objects that might be in focus with the lens set to “infinity.”)

To find out about the effect of aperture on DOF, try the following:

  1. Put the camera on a tripod and compose some reasonable test image that includes subjects at various distances from the camera position, with a primary subject somewhere between the closest and the furthest.
  2. Focus on your primary subject within the scene.
  3. Shoot a series of images at apertures ranging from the largest to perhaps f/16 – shoot at f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, etc. You might want to go as far as f/22 on full frame.*
  4. If you want to be a bit more methodical, you can use your DOF tables/software to “calculate” your hyperfocal distance, focus there, and repeat the process – but, frankly, I wouldn’t bother.
  5. Spend some time – likely well under an hour – looking over the results on your computer. If possible, make a few small prints to confirm the relevance (or not) of what you observe on the screen.

Another great way to understand the effect of aperture on the depth of field in your shot is to shoot in live view mode on your DSLR. Here you can press the DOF preview button, zoom in the live view display to 5x or 10x magnification, and pan around the magnified image on the rear display to see a very good approximation of the effect of your aperture choice on elements of the scene at various distances from the camera.

SIMPLIFICATION: A SECRET

Let me share a little secret. From reading some photography forum posts, you might get the idea that lots of photographers are going around making careful and technical calculations of precise hyperfocal distance and DOF and all the rest and then making exactingly accurate choices about aperture for each shot. In general, it doesn’t work that way in the real world, where photographers often tend to select aperture in basically three ways:

  1. In a shot where the subject doesn’t have a lot of depth and DOF isn’t really an issue, we tend to shoot at some default aperture that we believe is more or less optimal for overall resolution, corner resolution, and perhaps vignetting. On full frame, this might frequently be roughly f/8, though there are reasons to vary from that a bit sometimes.
  2. When working a subject on which we want very large DOF, we tend to go straight to the smallest aperture that we feel will produce large DOF and very good resolution. For me, this is typically f/16 on full frame, it might be no smaller than f/11 on cropped sensor cameras. There are situations in which I might use a smaller aperture, but they are very rare and will involve acceptance of some tradeoffs.
  3. When faced with a shot in which we want very narrow DOF, we tend to open up as much as we think we can, perhaps tending toward the largest aperture on the lens we are using. There are some additional factors to consider here, but I’ll leave them out for now in the spirit of simplifying.

So, a simple generalized approach:

  • Shoot at some middle-of-the-road aperture when DOF isn’t a major concern.
  • Shoot at the smallest acceptable aperture when you want large DOF – f/16 on full-frame or f/8-f/11 on crop.
  • Open way up when you want to minimize DOF.

This approach works in a wide range of real-world photographic situations, and it is especially useful to begin with it when you have to work quickly. There will be situations in which these are simply starting points, and you’ll need to make some modifications – for example, in very low light you might not be able to use that very small aperture if you are shooting hand-held, or your largest aperture might produce DOF that is too narrow for some subjects, and so on. But starting with this simple basic concept, using live view DOF preview when appropriate, and learning from experience will likely move you a lot further along on the road towards understanding and making effective use of aperture/DOF than trying to rely on some DOF calculator. (Depite their appearance of accuracy, these calculators depend on a bunch of assumptions that may not match up with your photography.)

* You can stop down further on cameras with larger sensors before you run into issues with diffraction blur, a softening of the overall image that occurs with the smallest apertures. To generalize, while you can stop down to roughly f/16 on a full frame and still produce very sharp images, you might want to avoid such a small aperture on your cropped sensor DSLR, perhaps avoiding anything smaller than about f/11… and you might want to be a bit cautious about using f/11.

© Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Commentary, Ideas, Tongue in Cheek

10 Critical Tips for Landscape Photographers

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1. Use a camera. The most important and basic tool of the landscape photographer is the camera. Using a camera greatly simplifies the process of capturing photographic images, and without one you’ll likely feel a bit lost. You may have noticed that pretty much all great landscape photographers use a camera – some use more than one! – so take a cue from the pros and make sure you have a camera, too!

2. Get a lens. Having a lens makes your camera much more useful. While a camera is critical to your work as a landscape photographer, without a lens the usefulness of the camera is greatly diminished. For this reason, virtually all successful landscape photographers end up, sooner or later, getting a lens to use with their camera. You’ll definitely want one, too – just like the pros! (Some cameras come with a lens built in – what a useful idea!)

3. Remove your lens cap. How many photographers can tell stories of forgetting to remove the lens cap before making a photograph, only to discover that the results were not what they had hoped for? But you don’t have to learn the hard way! Practice removing your lens cap at home – that way, when you are in the field you will have developed “photographer’s instincts” that will ensure that you remove the lens cap. (The good news is that with digital cameras you don’t have to worry about whether you loaded the film – but don’t forget your memory card!)

4. Photograph interesting things. Although it isn’t universally true, you will probably get more interesting photographs if you photograph interesting things. There are many things in the world, and not all of them are interesting. Look for the interesting things and photograph them. Look around – it is an interesting thing to do! Interesting, yes?

5. Pick the right brand. There are many brands of photographic equipment out there – cameras, lenses, filters, bags, you name it. Picking the wrong brand may hamper your photography; pick the right brand and you may not hamper your photography so much. So be sure to pick the right brand. If you aren’t sure which brand is best, talk to photographers – any one of them can tell you which is best… and why!

6. Light is important. Without light it would be pretty much impossible to make photographs, at least the typical landscape photographs. So if you plan to make typical photographs, look for scenes that are illuminated by… light! Light is your friend. Seek out light and when you see it make photographs. Think about it… how many of the photographers you admire work without light? So, do what the pros do – use light!

7. Pick the right subject. Pick the wrong subject and your photograph won’t be what you wanted it to be, so be sure to photograph the right subject. Seek it out and when you see the right subject make a photograph. Perhaps make several. There are so many subjects in the world that finding the right one can be a challenge, so be sure to apply yourself carefully to this task.

8. Colors are important. Unless you are making black and white photographs – in which case the only important colors are black and white. You’ll want to pay careful attention to color. The most important advice is to focus on color in your color photographs – just like the pros!

9. Focus on what is most important. Some people think that mastering technical issues is the most important thing. Others think that having the right equipment is critical. Some claim that the artistic quality of the photograph is important. (Don’t forget – color is important, too!) Before you make great photographs you’ll have to decide which is the most important in your work. Don’t waste your time being a generalist and trying to do everything – pick one and focus on it!  Successful photographers develop a speciality and stick to it.  And don’t forget the rule of thirds!

10. Find good locations. There are many popular spots to make photographs, and you can make photographs just like the pros if you seek out these locations and shoot there, too. You’ll have to be attentive, since these spots are easy to miss if you are talking on your cell phone as you drive past them. Some telltale hints include parking lots full of cars and lines of people with tripods. Stop and make a photograph – there is always room for one more tripod! You can probably make one that looks just like those that the other photographers are making! (Hint: You can also visit online photography sites ahead of time – both to find the locations and to save yourself from spending too much time searching for compositions when you actually get there. Your time is precious!)

Good luck!

(I probably should have saved this for April 1, but I couldn’t wait… :-)

For those whose first experience with my blog is this tongue-in-cheek post, I write serious stuff, too, and a related recent post might interest you: Photographic Myths and Platitudes – ‘Landscape Photography Lenses’ (Part I)