The Mystery of the Depth of Field!

Depth of Field or DOF is used to describe a how deep the field of sharpness in an image is.

For example if you have a few objects lying randomly on the floor, at different distances in each direction.

Now a shallow depth of field will blur everything except everything that lies in the vertical plane of the point of focus.  A deeper depth of field will increase the field of sharp vision, thus having a larger DOF.

D-SLR cameras have a very shallow depth of field, this can be controlled very well by decreasing the Aperture size, i.e. larger F number. Again for clarification (f/1.8 is larger aperture than f/10)

Below are three sample images that illustrate DOF:

A: f/1.8

1: The lens is set at MAX aperture i.e. f/1.8 and thus allowing in the most light possible, but also reducing the depth of field to only a few millimeters. Focus point: Green Cylinder.  The small green cylinder and the white cube are almost in the same vertical plane, watch them in the next image.

A: f/2.8

2. The aperture is now set at f/2.8, this increases the DOF by a centimeter, the objects in the foreground and the background are still out of focus/not sharp.

A: f/13

3. The increase the depth of field by a few feet the aperture is now set at f/13, now every piece in the image is razor-sharp and even the distant objects like the foot of the couch and a flip-flop is visible sharp to a certain extent.

Thus to improve on the depth of field the aperture should be decreased, although to prevent blur from camera shake, ISO should be increased to increase shutter speed.

USE of Shallow DOF: Portrait, Wildlife, Sports, Macro

USE of Deeper DOF: Landscapes, Cityscapes, all situation where sharpness of the entire field is wanted.

Hope that helped, ask anything as always. 🙂

The Camera and its Moods

Only people can have moods, however the camera is so amazing it has all the traits of human beings and their eyes.

Talking about the digital camera (since everyone is going digital).

The angle of view depends on the type of lens we attach to the camera and the type of sensor present inside the camera’s body.

Generally, our eyes have an angle of view to that of the 50 mm lens on a full-frame body.  Full frames are professional grade cameras.  Consumer cameras have cropped sensors by a factor of 1.5 to 2, that means they are smaller and the angle of view of the lens is multiplied by that factor.  Thus, a 50 mm on a cropped sensor body (DX in Nikon, APS-C 1.6x in Canon) has an angle of view of a lens of 75 mm or 80 mm on a full-frame body. [D-SLR camera bodies]

# Iris: Diaphragm of the aperture of a lens, made from several moving blades to change to size of the aperture as required.

# Pupil: The aperture through which the amount of light entering or the depth-of-field can be controlled.

# Lens: The lens of an eye can be compared to the focusing mechanism of a camera lens. To produce sharp results the lens needs to focus properly. Technically, the further the focusing elements of a camera lens the closer the object is and vis-a-versa.

# Retina: The focal plane or the sensor on which the image is created for recording, generally made from CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor). 

# Chemicals: If the eye is subject to extreme darkness or extreme brightness certain chemical produced help with the sensitivity to light. This is better known as ISO-Speed in cameras. The higher the ISO speed the better the camera can ‘see’ in darkness, with some side effects, of course.

# Eye-lids: Try blinking your eyes twice!  What happened between the two blinks? That is exactly what the shutter does, and that is how much light the sensor captures in the blink of an eye, yet producing perfectly lit and vibrant photos.  Have I mentioned the camera is an amazing thing?

# Brain: The processor and the storage media of a camera.

Please wait there’s more…

The different moods of a camera are just like the faces of human moods, also called P-SAM:

# Auto:  Here is when the camera is most stubborn, like a child, will not change any setting related to exposure, will choose its own settings.  Wondered why they call the auto mode point-and-shoot?

# P (Programmable Auto):  This is a much co-operating version of the auto mode, here you can change the ISO-speed, and the aperture sometimes; but since the shutter speeds also change here corresponding to the aperture value, the overall exposure remains the same.

# S (Shutter Speed) or Tv (Time Value): So after you have given the child some understanding of how you want things done, he agrees to you to co-operate a bit more, but only if you promise to do a few things for it.  This mood will let you choose the amount of time the shutter will stay open, that means the longer it remains open more the exposure to light the sensor will get, you can change the ISO-Speed here too, but the camera still controls the aperture.

# A (Aperture) or Av (Aperture Value): Now you exchange a few more things with the child, and you control a new thing, but you lose control over the former.  Here, you control the aperture, thus allowing how much light would enter through the lens, and control the ISO-Speed, but the camera retains the control of shutter speed.

# M (Manual Mode, Mature Mode): After learning and growing up about life, the child now gives up on all things held so dear.  Here, you can change the ISO-Speed, the Aperture as well as the Shutter Speed, this is when you have the complete creative control of your amazing child – the Camera.

Hope you have enjoyed reading a short analogy of the Camera and its Moods….

More to follow. please comment, if you have any questions.

HAPPY PAINTING…. this time with light and colors, the Festival of Colors being celebrated by 1/6th of earth’s population tomorrow! 

What is Photography?

To begin with, I will have to give a certain view-point of what is photography after all?

 

Photography, the art that most of us love, either to view or to make.  Some people think of it as a way to capture special moments forever.  To explain the term photography in the simplest words I would use “The Art of Painting with Light.”  Yes, so the name of the this weblog:  iLightPaint. 

The history of photography goes back almost 200 years; from dry plates to film cameras to the latest digital SLR cameras, the industry has given gems year after year to the hundreds of thousands of people who have a never-ending love for this Art.

 

 All this weblog will do is share with you the relevant information about photography, for those who are completely new to it, from sensors types, mega pixels, apertures, shutter speeds, ISO-Speeds, P-SAM, rules of thirds, golden spirals, composition, lighting (relax everything will sound like music, soon). And hopefully with your un-dying passion to go out there and click, you will gradually improve on your skills.  Remember, a camera and lens is only as good as the person viewing through the viewfinder.  

 

More to follow….

 

Happy Painting!

Welcome to iLightPaint!

A very warm welcome to you, dear reader!

 

My name is Nish Patel.

 

This blog is about the wonderful and exciting art of painting with light.  Yes, I am referring to Photography.

 

I am a hobbyist photographer and I want to share everything I know about photography and cameras; I will be sharing information and knowledge useful for beginners and experts; but will start of at the foundation.

 

I hope you find this blog useful as your reference to photography, and I hope that you bring smiles (and amazement) to the faces of the people with whom you share your photos.

 

Happy Painting!