52
votes
Why isn't this portrait taken at f/29 sharp?
You've run over the diffraction limit. Light rays passing through a small hole will diverge and interfere with each other and a pattern emerges--a sort of banding where different frequencies/placement ...
- 51.1k
49
votes
Accepted
Why isn't this portrait taken at f/29 sharp?
As mentioned in the other answers, diffraction has led to unsharpness. To put this to the test, one can attempt to sharpen the image using deconvolution by using the point spread function that ...
- 3,576
40
votes
How can a smartphone take pictures of a landscape with everything in focus?
It's worth noting that sensor size plays a huge role in depth of field and behavior of the lens.
A smartphone has a tiny camera sensor, often around 25 square mm. This gives the camera a crop factor ...
- 830
34
votes
Accepted
How to convey a sense of depth & distance in a landscape?
If we start by just numbering them 1 - 6 for easy reference...
Personally, I'd discount 5 altogether as it has none of the aspects we're looking for.
2 is a bit naïve & perhaps achieves a lot of ...
- 23.1k
33
votes
Accepted
Why are War Photographers able to take pictures that seemingly violate the exposure rule?
First about depth-of-field: The two examples you posted, and many war pictures, are of objects at or near infinity (Latin: as far as the eye can see). The light waves from objects at infinity arrive ...
- 38.5k
32
votes
Why are War Photographers able to take pictures that seemingly violate the exposure rule?
For the first photo:
You just happened to pick a staged photo...
This is the image with text, note the artificial bright lighting coming from high above, near the cameras position?:
This is the ...
- 734
28
votes
How is it possible to have shallow depth of field in very bright conditions?
The easiest way to solve this problem is to use a neutral-density filter. They are essentially neutral grey filters that cut down on the light reaching the film or digital sensor. Good ones are ...
- 1,760
26
votes
How to have a sharp product image?
shutter speed 0.5 seconds
This is likely to be a bit of your problem. The shutter causes vibration of the camera. So, too, does your hand pushing the release button.
At faster speeds, this ...
- 20.5k
25
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to change depth of field in RAW images?
No - the aperture is set by the physical blades in the lens when you take the photo; a RAW "image" contains the readings from the sensor when the photo was taken, so there's no way you can go back and ...
- 21.6k
23
votes
Accepted
700D live view depth of field not accurate
The camera usually keeps the aperture open as wide as possible while framing the shot. It is only closed to the setting you dialed in when the picture is being taken. This allows for a brighter ...
- 8,504
22
votes
Is camera lens focus an exact point or a range?
There's only one distance that is in sharpest focus. Everything in front of or behind that distance is blurry. The further we move away from the focus distance, the blurrier things get. The questions ...
- 174k
21
votes
Accepted
What is the shape of the focal plane?
The effect is called field curvature. A good discussion comes from Nikon. It is a lens aberration that can reduce the resolution of the lens when coupled with a flat sensor. In the old days, the ...
- 1,894
21
votes
How can a smartphone take pictures of a landscape with everything in focus?
If by "landscape" you mean something like this:
then the answer is simple: at very large distances, depth of field is extremely large even at large apertures. That is, at any aperture if you focus at ...
18
votes
Why do we need a DOF preview button?
Hitting the DOF preview with a stopped down aperture should make it obvious: what you see can be very dim, dim enough it can be very difficult to compose and focus.
That's why cameras have the lens ...
- 1,192
18
votes
Accepted
How do I get a sufficiently deep field when photographing an automobile dashboard?
You don't necessarily need to make the field deeper, you just need to tilt the field with respect to the camera's film/sensor. That's what the "tilt" function of a tilt-shift (Canon ...
- 174k
16
votes
Why isn't this portrait taken at f/29 sharp?
Because of diffraction. f/29 is way too much for you to expect a sharp image. Try shooting the same thing at f/8 and you'll see the difference.
- 2,044
15
votes
Accepted
Is this "tack sharp with blurred background" look done with Photoshop?
No photoshop necessary for that background. That's simply what happens when shooting a telephoto lens, f/2.8 or larger, and having the subject closer to the camera and much further from the background....
- 20.5k
15
votes
Accepted
What do these curved, color-coded lines mean on a vintage Nikkor lens?
The aperture ring is engraved with f-numbers duplicated; the duplicates are color coded the same. The lines you are asking about are also paired, same color. The idea is to graphically display the ...
- 38.5k
14
votes
Accepted
Can focus stacking (or a similar technique) also be used to reduce depth of field?
Yes, it's possible
With the focus stack you could estimate a depth map of the scene. Then this map is used to selectively blur the image to emulate the effect of shallower depth of field.
See for ...
- 278
13
votes
Why do we need a DOF preview button?
Why do we need a DOF preview button?
So that you can see how much depth of field you'll get when the shot is actually taken.
Why not just show the effective depth of field, by default?
Because ...
- 31.6k
13
votes
How can a smartphone take pictures of a landscape with everything in focus?
Aperture is only one factor in depth of field. Others are: sensor size and focal length. Large format camera lenses often have max apertures in f/4-f/5 range, yet they yield very shallow DOF - because ...
- 2,090
13
votes
Accepted
Manual focus and depth of field
I haven't used this camera, but it has a "Manual focus magnification' feature.
On my Sony Alpha a550 DSLR, it automatically sets aperture to full open to help you with precise focusing. The ...
- 146
13
votes
How do I get a sufficiently deep field when photographing an automobile dashboard?
Exposure time is moot if the subject is stationery and using a tripod. f/11 @ 1/8" or f/16 @ 1/4" or best f/22 @ 1/2" will accomplish your goal.
Depth of field -- from the point focused ...
- 38.5k
11
votes
Why is the Depth of Field Preview button necessary?
Why is the Depth of Field Preview button necessary?
With the lens wide open, as it normally is before you take the shot, you can't tell how much depth of field you'll get in the photograph. When you ...
- 31.6k
11
votes
Accepted
Maximizing bokeh in the foreground?
From the other question:
Here's the list of things that influence depth of field the most (in
this particular order):
Subject distance, the closer the subject is, the shallower the DOF
(think of ...
- 549
11
votes
How is it possible to have shallow depth of field in very bright conditions?
Some considerations:
Turn your ISO right down to the minimum value
Do you really need f/1.8? Depending on the composition of your shot you can usually still get decent shallow DoF up to around f/4....
- 398
10
votes
What causes images to have flat depth?
It is typically called "lens compression," where things farther away appear nearer to the subject/closer together. And the opposite of this is typically called "lens distortion," ...
- 13.8k
9
votes
Is it possible to change depth of field in RAW images?
For the purpose that you are asking the answer is "No". Sort of.
Unless you are using what is known as a Light Field Camera such as the Lytro, you can't change the aperture at which the shot was ...
- 174k
9
votes
What is the shape of the focal plane?
A single converging lens with real thickness has a curved field of focus. Most lenses offered by manufacturers include corrective elements to flatten the field of focus closer to a flat focal plane to ...
- 174k
9
votes
How to focus on an area correctly, while still blurring everything else?
The short version is you need not the "biggest aperture possible" but the right aperture given the distance and desired depth of field.
There are a number of online depth of field calculators ...
- 2,328
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