Shallow depth of field is a photography technique that blurs the background and foreground, creating a sense of focus on the subject. When you have a shallow depth of field (DoF), it means that you have a limited range of focus.
Many of you would be familiar with shallow depth of field photography examples like the photo above.
You can achieve this by using a long lens or physically moving closer to your subject and, most importantly, using a wide-open aperture. The latest improvements in smartphone software algorithms allow this effect to be achieved in smartphones as well.
Introduction to Shallow Depth of Field
Shallow depth of field is a photography technique that blurs the background and foreground of a photo to focus on the subject. This technique is often used in portrait and macro photography to create a sense of intimacy and immediacy.
Sometimes, the technique is used to blur out elements in the frame that do not add to the overall composition.
For example, there may be distracting elements directly behind the subject – like telegraph posts or boxes or anything that does not add value to a composition. Shallow DoF is used to ensure that such elements are blurred out and not visible in the final image.
How to Achieve This Effect?
The technique of shallow DoF can be achieved using a combination of a focal length and amount of space in the background and foreground of the subject. Either one of the above combinations will give you a shallow DoF and with it, a good amount of background (and foreground) blur. But the best technique to produce this effect is by using a small f-stop (discussed below).
Let’s discuss a few scenarios –
1. Use a Wide-Angle Lens and Move-in Close
You can create a shallow DoF using a wide-angle lens. With a wide-angle lens, you are required to step in closer and therefore reduce the distance between the subject and the camera. But as long as you remember to leave out sufficient space between the subject and the background you can achieve the shallow DoF effect without any trouble.
I know many of you would be thinking –
Can I just choose the right lens and camera and let the equipment do the rest?
Well, to an extent you can. For example, if you shoot with a full-frame camera and a medium telephoto lens that has a small f-stop it’s easy to capture this effect without much effort.
2. Use a Long Lens and Leave Space Behind the Subject
That brings us to the second scenario. To try this technique, you can place a subject about 20 feet away from the background. Now, use a long lens to shoot. The lens doesn’t need to have a small f-stop/ large working aperture. A lens even with a large f-stop will work.
As you focus on the subject you will notice that everything in the background appears to be out of focus. If there are trees in the background, they will appear blurred and silky smooth.
You will also notice that anything in the background appears larger than usual. It will appear as if the background is being sucked in. The longer the focal length the greater is this effect. The effect is exaggerated when using a telephoto zoom lens.
3. Use a Long Lens With a Small F-Stop (Or Large Aperture)
The most effective way to achieve shallow depth of field, however, is to use a long lens that has a wide-open aperture, or a small f-stop. With a wide-open aperture/ small f-stop such as f/1.4 to f/4, the lens diaphragm opens up wide enough to allow a lot of light in along with giving you that beautiful blurry effect.
Long lenses like the 70-200mm zoom, the 105mm, and the 135mm prime are great lenses to achieve background blur. This is because these lenses usually have a small f-stop. With a small f-stop or wide-open aperture, even if you leave out only a little space behind the subject, you can still achieve the effect. Lenses with a small f-stop naturally produce a shallow depth of field, depending on your composition and where you’re focusing in the frame.
4. Best Shallow Depth of Field Settings
The only setting that you need to tweak is the aperture. Use the largest aperture or the smallest f-stop that your lens can open to. The choice of lens will determine whether you have to move in close or shoot from a distance.
Retouching Your Shallow DoF Photos
Whether or not you’re using a big aperture, it’s useful if you could do some light retouching of the photos. Ideally, a darker background accentuates the effect of a shallow depth of field. That said it’s not always necessary.
Sometimes, even a brighter background can work as long as there are some textures in the frame, and it’s blurred out. Avoid a solid background because that never works with this technique.
Let’s take an example.
Let’s open an image in Colorcinch using the Upload button.
We intend to work primarily on the Exposure tab because that will allow us to slightly exaggerate the effects of shallow DoF.
Next, let’s tweak each of the sliders under the Exposure tab.
Finally, we need to pull down the Brightness just to make the image a bit darker.
Again, Highlights was pushed down a bit under the same logic.
The Contrast was pushed just a little to make the green a bit more vibrant and stand out against the yellow.
Finally, the Shadow was pushed to ensure that the final result is more to our liking.
Note we don’t want the green to disappear into the black. That’s not our intention. We just want to keep the green but take away the details.
All these took me less than 10 seconds.
Uses of Shallow Depth of Field Effect
The best use of this effect is in portrait and macro photography. It can also be used for shooting small products and for creative photography.
Portrait photography is perhaps the one genre where you can see this effect used more often. Portrait photography, especially when it’s shot outdoors often has a distracting background. It becomes necessary to use a shallow DoF to eliminate those from the composition.
But to be honest these days photographers use the effect simply because shallow depth of field photos look cool. And I agree.
When shooting macro photos, the effect is somewhat unintentional. When you shoot a small subject from a very close distance, invariably one of the basic parameters of shallow depth of field is fulfilled – leave out space between the subject and the background.
Concluding Thoughts
Shallow depth of field is a creative technique that’s mostly used in portraitures and macro photography. But that does not sum it up. There are many creative possibilities of this technique and you’re only limited by your imagination.
So, feel free to experiment with this technique. I am sure you will find out more avenues where this technique can be useful.
