May 2021 • Nebraskaland 37
more depth of fi eld and a bigger hole creates a shallow depth
of fi eld. In everyday life, your eyes and brain do this all the
time; when you squint your eyes to see something better,
you're making a smaller aperture to increase your depth
of fi eld.
Depth of fi eld also is infl uenced by focal length and the
proximity of your subject. Telephoto lenses have much less
depth of fi eld than wide-angle lenses, regardless of aperture
The vegetation behind these sideoats grama fl owers is blurred out because of a shallow depth of fi eld. Depth of fi eld becomes
very shallow in close-up photographs, even when the aperture is closed down. Deciding what needs to be focus is key, as in the
spiderwort photo on the right. The droplet is sharply focused and the unfocused fl ower in the background provides interesting
context.
