The point of this approach is to have ONLY the object you’re interested in in sharp focus; anything else, in front of it or behind it, is blurred.
There are two ways of going about this technique. One is using a macro lens, which will have an extremely shallow field of focus at close range, regardless of aperture; the other is to use a normal lens and shoot wide open, as close as you can get to your subject. A 60mm macro lens took the bee picture below, which has a total depth of field of about an inch and a half, and I’m lucky I didn’t get stung — I was at most 8 inches from the subject. Luckily, the bee was focused on gathering pollen, so no problem. A 100mm macro will give you a more comfortable working distance.
The second is a wide-open shot, f1.8, using a 28 mm wide-angle lens. This has more depth of field than normal or telescopic lens, but you can still see how the foreground and background are out of focus compared to the beauty that captured my attention.
Shooting wide-open with a normal lens requires you to KNOW, from practicing, what your DOF will be at various distances. A 50 mm lens will have a greater DOF than any 60 or 100 mm lens at the same distance and aperture, and a wide-angle lens will have still greater DOF even when wide-open. While you can work your DOF mathematically or in look-up tables, it’s easier to go practice for a while and get a feel for what your lens will do.
The downside to shooting wide-open is that it lets in enough light to make make shutter speeds very high; in bright light, your camera may not be able to operate fast enough to prevent over exposure. Everything’s a trade-off. Not a problem on this train from Stresa to Locarno. The seats also help to isolate the subject.
Want more tips? Buy Explorations in Photography today! Print version is $35.95, available here and as an e-book for $9.95 here
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