Depth of Field – Lindsey Rohrer's Photography class portfolio

Depth of Field (DOF)

What is a depth of field? The depth of Field is the distance that a photo still looks “sharp” or clear. There is a certain zone of focus in front of and behind the main part of the picture that are clear before the rest gets blurry.

This diagram shows the difference between a short and a long depth of field. The top one has a short depth of field which which has a little part of the picture that is very clear but the rest of the picture is blurry, The bottom picture has a long depth of field which is when there is a little bit of blur but most of the picture is clear.

Photographers use depth of field to help them take pictures because it helps the photo to focus on something more clearly. If you blur the background on a picture it naturally draws your eyes to the clear part of the picture.

A photographer should use a small Depth of field if they are trying to draw your eyes to a certain part of the picture like in single pictures. A photographer should use a large depth of field for group pictures or landscape pictures.

Changing Aperture

Canon EOS Rebel T7 2026-09-19 09:57:55 f/22 1/20sec ISO-200 53mm Horizontal (normal)

All of these pictures were taken in the same spot but they do not all look the same. The reason that they do not all look the same is because they have different apertures. The first picture has an aperture of f/22 which makes the background more clear because it has a larger depth of field. That is different than the last picture that has a blurred background because the aperture is f/5.6. In the first picture there is also less light coming in than in the last picture.

Photos at different apertures and distances

Canon EOS Rebel T7 2026-09-19 09:50:32 f/22 1/25sec ISO-200 49mm Horizontal (normal)

The closer I was to the object that I was taking a picture of the more blurred the background is. As I moved away and took the picture eight feet from the object the clearer the background got and when I took it from 2 feet the background is very blurred

Small Depth of field pictures

Canon EOS Rebel T7 2026-09-19 09:55:49 f/5.6 1/250sec ISO-200 49mm Horizontal (normal)

Featured Image

Canon EOS Rebel T7 2026-09-17 14:38:43 f/5 1/20sec ISO-200 42mm Horizontal (normal)

This is my favorite picture because I really like the green plant and then the blurred in the background. I think that your eyes are drawn to the little bit of plant that is hanging down and then the blurred lights and lockers makes a good contrast of colors and brightness.