Depth of Field explained

Depth of Field is the photographic term that describes the limit of the distance that extends in front of and behind the selected point of focus, sometimes referred to as the field of focus. Large apertures will reduce the depth of field and small apertures will increase depth of field. Most people understand this basic concept, but what’s often overlooked, especially by beginners who are still learning about the technicalities of photography, is that distance significantly affects depth of field and is a very important consideration. The closer the subject is to the camera, the more noticeable the impact of a shallow depth of filed is, but as the focal distance increases, the depth of field also increases, which means that even at wide open apertures, the depth of field can still be very deep, if the focus point is further away…

Hopefully this short explainer video will help.

“Stops” Explained

People often talk about “Stops” in photography but it’s not always clear what they’re referring to. Most people are familiar with the concept of ‘f stops’, but that only refers to apertures. A “Stop” actually describes more than just the size of the opening of an iris in a lens… So what exactly is a “Stop?” I hope this short video explanation helps answer that question. Please leave a comment if you’d like me to record a short explainer video on any other photographic topic.

Explanation of Stops in Photography

Aperture values explained

Aperture values can seem confusing to a lot of people, especially when they’re new to photography. It seems to be one of those things that you just need to accept, and then memorise - the lower the value, the larger the hole. But that doesn’t really explain what’s going on. Wide apertures are described by low numeric values, whereas small apertures are described by higher numeric values. That doesn’t seem logical and often causes people who are learning photography to refer to apertures using terms like “high” or “low”, which also doesn’t make sense!

In order to try and demystify this mathematical oddity, I made a little video to explain what’s going on, I hope it helps. Please leave a comment if you’d like me to do more short explainer videos and suggest topics.

Explanation of aperture values