Unfortunately, the planned visit to Dunstable Downs to visit the Kiting and Paragliding Centre was changed, so the group met at its home venue Orchard View Farm, Stockwell Lane, in Little Meadle.
The program was quickly revised to cover questions put forward by members. These were mainly Depth of Field, SD cards and ‘Buffering, and one or two points raised on Lightroom/Photoshop. Depth of Field was the main subject for the morning.
Depth of Field – what is it, how does it work, and why use it?
A camera was set-up and focused on a given object – a can of beans in this case. The focus point was on the left-hand can. An aperture of f/4 was used to take the shot. The Depth of Field, as can be seen, is very shallow making the other cans in the image soft and out of focus. The intention, of course, to make sure the viewer’s eye is drawn to the only Bean Can in focus.
We also covered F/Stops in general and the simplest way to remember them.
Here are a couple of video tutorials – each author has a different way of explaining DoF. Please view the video links in the order they are displayed.
Click here to view Video tutorial A….
Click here to view Video tutorial B…
Before the close of the session, members took their cameras outside to shoot butterflies in the meadow.