DOF.

[Weaving Wax]

I know what DOF is, but I was wondering if theres any way I can "hone" my DOF skill. I have a 50mm at 1.18 lense..

 

[just x joey]

what, just drop the fstop down, and take sum pictures?

 

[Azuth]

At no point do you define what sort of DOF you're looking for, shallow? Perhaps you're shooting a landscape that you want to have as much DOF as possible?

Grab a book or browse the web to look at photo's in the style you like, look at how DOF has been used, then try to figure out what you need to do to achieve the same thing from a DOF point of view.

Pick a subject, go out and play.

 

[markc]

Shoot a lot of pictures so that you know what kind of DOF you will get with each aperture. After a while you'll get to know how much you'll get with f/1.8 vs f/5.6, etc. with that lens. The problem is that it will change with focal length, so for each lens you use, you'll have to learn that for each one.

 

[ksmattfish]

Google the following terms, and read up where they lead you:

hyperfocal distance
zone focusing
DOF calculator