Starlite said:
How do you open up the depth of field?
It's controlled by the apereture... I would explain it, but Wikipedia does a nice job, below...
The aperture stop of a
photographic lens can be adjusted to control the amount of
light reaching the
film or
image sensor. In combination with variation of
shutter speed, the aperture size will regulate the film's degree of
exposure to light. Typically, a fast shutter speed will require a larger aperture to ensure sufficient light exposure, and a slow shutter speed will require a smaller aperture to avoid excessive exposure.

Diagram of decreasing aperture sizes (increasing f-numbers) for "full stop" increments (factor of two aperture area per stop)
A device called a
diaphragm usually serves as the aperture stop, and controls the aperture. The diaphragm functions much like the
iris of the
eye—it controls the effective
diameter of the lens opening. Reducing the aperture size increases the
depth of field, which describes the extent to which subject matter lying closer than or farther from the actual plane of focus appears to be in focus. In general, the smaller the aperture (the larger the number), the greater the distance from the plane of focus the subject matter may be while still appearing in focus.
The lens aperture is usually specified as an
f-number, the ratio of focal length to effective aperture diameter. A lens typically has a set of marked "f-stops" that the f-number can be set to. A lower f-number denotes a greater aperture opening which allows more light to reach the film or image sensor.
Aperture priority refers to a shooting mode used in semi-automatic cameras. It allows the photographer to choose an aperture setting and allow the camera to decide the correct shutter speed. This is sometimes referred to as Aperture Priority Auto Exposure, A mode, Av mode, or semi-auto mode.
[1]

[FONT=Georgia,serif]
f/[/FONT]32 - narrow aperture and low shutter speed

[FONT=Georgia,serif]
f/[/FONT]5 - wide aperture and high shutter speed