FINAL 5

Here are the final five images i have chosen for my depth of field assignment...

Mika Ninagawa

Figure 1

With Rinko Kawauchi and Thomas Shahan, the composition of the photograph was very simple, often with only one subject. Mika Ninagawa takes a different approach however still uses a shallow depth of field. She is known for her vibrant and colourful compositions often taking photographs of flowers and using models wearing flamboyant attire. 

Figure 2

Thus, the photograph is very busy and with a deep depth of field where ALL the details of ALL the subjects are included the photograph would become too busy! There to direct our focus slightly she often uses a shallow depth of field.

Figure 3

          
I really like her photographs because they're very uplifting and she tends to use very bold colours and the way they compliment each other is very interesting and helps produce a stimulating photograph. Not only that but the compositions themselves are very intriguing, I wouldn't be able to come up with this composition in the most obscure of dreams,

Thomas Shahan

I came across this photographer whilst I was researching depth of field. Even though I do not share the same passion for creepy crawlies as him, his photographs really caught my eye..and they're strangely mesmerising! 

He uses an very shallow depth of field and gets right up close and personal with the subject to achieve this tremendous close up. I've even included a (slightly amusing) photograph of him at work...











It takes tremendous skill to be able to produce photographs such as these. He pretty much doesn't take photos of anything that isn't a bug so it's a very narrow to one subject type. I found short clip where he just takes you through some of his work and technique...

TEST SHOOT! Part Two

I went out again on Saturday for another test shoot...Nothing amazing. Again experimented with colour, depth of field and photo dimensions...Here are some of the photographs...

I found this cute little statue and I wanted the photo to
be on the goose so i thought a shallow depth of field would
work best! However it didn't really work in  B&W because
the tree and the subject just 'mushed' together...

...so I took the same photo bit in colour. I think it works much better
due to the contrast of the  tree in the background and the subject.

I'm not particularly fond of the photograph but I decided to
put it in anyway to demonstrate that sometimes depth of
field doesn't work as well as hoped. There has to be some
distance between the subject and the 'rest of the picture' 

With this photograph, the depth of field is so shallow that not
even the entire plant is in focus!

It's the same with this photograph really however I think
it was slightly overexposed

TEST SHOOT!

We went out on Friday where we experimented with depth of field. I found that i enjoyed trying different apertures with different subjects and scenes. I also started to experiment with black and white and colour to see what would and what wouldn't work. 

Also, my initial idea for my brief is architecture so I also incorporated some research into the test shoot! Here are some of the pictures from Friday....

This caught my eye because of the shadow of the adjacent building.
This picture in itself isn't extraordinary however it was very intriguing at the time!

I then tried it in B&W but I found I preferred the colour version!

With this photo, I love how bold the colour of the building is...
what is that salmon or peach or something!!!

This was part of the football exhibition we attended...I really
 love this photo because the DofF is so shallow that you can
no longer see the lights in the background...they're just dots of light.

I took this photo in order to contrast the small aperture to the larger aperture...

I took this photo with an aperture of '22'

I'm not entirely sure but I believe I took this photo with  a 8.0 f/stop.

Final photograph in the series...very shallow depth
of field compared to the first one. An f/stop of 3.5.

Again, I took this photo in order to contrast the shallow and deep depth of field. This one is deep...

...and this one is shallow!

I really like this photo...shame about the vehicles in the foreground.
Also I think it is slightly overexposed. Something I'll have to watch
out for on sunny days.

In terms of distracting vehicles, this photo is better than the
previous photo...however  I prefer  the 1x1 dimensions.

In this photo i tried to give more perspective and the B&W 

adds drama!

Ansel Adams...

Figure 1

Ansel Adams was an American musician turned photographer around in the 20th century. His first published photographs were in club called Bulletin in 1922 and his first solo exhibition in 1928 (in a club in San Francisco).  In time, he came to favour photographing nature and was known for his photographs of Yosemite National Park.

Figure 2

His work mostly focuses on photographing epic landscapes, working only in black and white. He therefore tends to use a very deep depth of field in order to capture the entire landscape in focus (in order to see the details of the landscape). To capture this effect a wide angle lens (he used a 35mm) and a large f/stop.

Figure 3

Note how vast the landscapes are and how much of the photograph is in focus. In Figure 1 even the clouds in the distance. With a shallow depth of field the details such as the trees in the distance in Figure 3 wouldn't be captured. Only a very small aperture would be able to keep the rocks in the foreground AND the mountain in the background in focus in Figure 2.

Rinko Kawauchi...

Figure 1

      

          Rinko Kawauchi is a japanese photographer who received nationwide recognition in Japan in 2001 when releasing three photographic books called Utatane, Hanabi and Hanako. She has since gone on to put on many exhibitions worldwide, most recently in September 2012 in Tokyo, Japan. 

Figure 2

     

          Her work mostly focuses on capturing moments of everyday life. She therefore tends to use a fairly shallow depth of field in order to focus the attention of the observer on the subject otherwise her work and its message wouldn't be as powerful. In her photographs the only thing that matters is her subject and the contents in the background is often irrelevant...

Figure 3

          In all photographs, there is one subject (Figure 1 is the baby, Figure 2 its the droplet and for Figure 3 is the emerging petal). is the with the focus falling on its nose. Also, the depth of field is so shallow that background detail is virtually non-existant!






I watched this interview with Rinko Kawauchi talking about her series called 'Illuminence'...she probably explains her work better than I ever could!
Rinko Kawauchi and Lesley A. Martin on Illuminance

The 3 Factors...

There are three factors that affect Depth of Field...

1.    Focus Distance

This affects depth of field because the closer the subject of the photograph is, the shallower the depth of field tends to be whereas the depth of field tends to be deeper when taking photographs of landscapes for example. So the depth of field will differ when taking a photo of an object 1m away as opposed to 10m away.

2.    Aperture

When the aperture is larger e.g. f/1.2, the depth of focus is narrower therefore more of the picture appears unfocused (shallow depth of field). However, when the aperture is smaller e.g. f/22, it creates a sharper picture in terms of depth of focus (maximum depth of field).

Shallow vs. Larger Depth of Field

3.    Focal Length

Focal length doesn’t affect depth of field as much as the previous two factors. Focal length refers to the lens and how much the photograph seems ‘magnified’. Telephoto lenses tend to produce photos with a shallower depth of field than wide angle lenses.

What is Depth of Field?

Figure 1: Shallow Depth of Field

          Depth of field can be described as the overall sharpness of the photography or distance within the photograph between nearest and farthest object in focus. Shallow depth of field is when only a small portion of the photograph is in focus (Figure 1) therefore a small distance between nearest and farthest object in focus. A deeper depth of field is when a lot of the photograph is in focus (Figure 2) therefore there is a larger distance between nearest and farthest object in focus.

Figure 2: Deep Depth of Field

          Generally, a deep depth of  field is used for landscapes and shallow depth of field is used for portraitures. This effect can be used to add perspective and include a lot of detail in landscapes and in the case of portraitures, it helps the photographer put emphasis on the subject, just as the photographer has done for the daisy in the foreground in Figure 1.