ASSIGNMENT 2—Aperture and Depth of Field

SCENE 1—STILL LIFE WITH THREE OBJECTS

SET 1—FOCUS ON THE NEAREST OBJECT

Set 2—FOCUS ON THE MIDDLE OBJECT

SET 3—FOCUS ON THE BACK OBJECT

PREFERRED PHOTO and REFLECTION

I prefer the photo with the focus on the front object with a medium depth of field.

I enjoy that the widest aperture creates interesting out-of-focus shapes, but my attachment to the objects influenced my photo preference. I like seeing the entire front object in focus, with some details of the other objects becoming recognizable. I wasn't satisfied with the lowest aperture because the shapes were too different from each other to create repetition or meaning. I was surprised that the lowest aperture resulted in such a shallow depth of field that flower in the vase is blurred. I think the exposure is better when the focus is on the front object.

Based on the lecture, I think the dark objects on the white background likely affected my metering. I am unsure about my options to help this. The shutter speed decreased as the focus moved toward the back. At f8, the shutter speed went from 1/30 (focus on front) to 1/40 (focus on middle) to 1/50 (focus on back). The slower shutter speed let in more light creating a more exposed image. Discovering my camera's ISO limit is 1600, I observed a visible decrease in quality beyond this point in a different set of photos. There was slight camera movement when adjusting focus and aperture, resulting in the visible line of paper at the bottom of the image, which wasn't present in the viewfinder.

In future small-scale photography (a couple of feet), I plan to use f2.0 only for a very shallow depth of field and explore stops between f2.0 and f8. I want to understand metering and focus better.

SCENE TWO

I prefer the f2.0 image with a soft background focus. The f2.0 image in the set that meets the parameters (don’t go below 1/60 with a live subject) is a little out of focus so I highlighted one at 2.0 from a different set that is in focus.

Initially Part 2 of this assignment seemed straightforward. The process, however, reminded me that operating my camera is not yet second nature. Working with a person added complications, with focusing the camera and capturing a good photo of my subject being primary challenges. Mike doesn’t like to be photographed and he was a great sport. In my multiple attempts to capture a good photo I learned that photographing still portraits is challenging.

I learned it is easier to take photographs of moving subjects on a sunny day, allowing for a low ISO and aperture adjustments without going below 1/60s. It's preferable to move around without a tripod in a live environment. The main takeaway is that in larger scenes, there's more room to play with f-stops, with each stop being less dramatic than in smaller scenes.