Nature Photography How To

Understanding how to control depth of field (DOF) is an important skill for all types of photography, whether you shoot portraits, landscapes, sports, or just about anything else. In the video below, you’ll learn how to employ DOF wisely for professional looking images.

There are times when you want to minimize DOF to separate a key subject from the background and direct the viewer’s eye into an image. Other times, like with certain landscape scenes, the goal is to maximize depth of field for sharp details from foreground to background.

In the straightforward video below from popular instructor Andrew Boey, you’ll learn everything you need to know. Boey’s Beyond Photography Academy has over 200,000 students from across the globe who appreciate his simple tutorials that deliver big results.

As always, Boey uses interesting photos and graphics to illustrate his advice, which begins with an explanation of how DOF works. As he explains, the range of sharpness in an image “is very important for compositional storytelling.”

Boey demonstrates how effective DOF affects an image in three basic ways. First, it can be used to control the perception of distance between a subject and the background. Secondly, DOF is an important tool for including certain elements within a scene, while excluding or making others fade away.

Finally, Boey uses a great image from Pulitzer Prize winner Danish Siddiqui to illustrate what he means by using DOF for “backstory, setting, and establishment.” In this case, Boey says proper technique affects the “entire premise of your photo.”

After watching this very helpful episode, head over to Boey’s YouTube channel for more great advice. And check out a tutorial we posted recently from another popular instructor, explaining how to set the optimum exposure for photos of flowing water.