Yesterday, I went with a group of students on a “photo safari”over to Washington Crossing State Park after a morning intro to photo class. While on location I showed the students some depth of field concepts as well as variations utilizing low and high depth of field.

Top images were made with a 35mm lens. They show cracking paint under a window sill at an old colonial building on state park grounds. The top was photographed at f4 (low depth of field) and the bottom at f14  (high depth of field).

Here also shot with a 35mm lens, the top was shot at f13 (high depth of field), and the bottom at f2 (low depth of field). The image shows some old driftwood laying along the banks of the Delaware River not far from where George Washington crossed the river into Trenton in the 1700’s.

Another image showing the top shot at f2 (low depth of field) and the bottom shot at f13 (high depth of field).
This shows the stonework alone the old bridge that crosses the Delaware River.

Another thing I did to show the students depth of field was to place a pencil on a park benh and photograph it two times. The first at f2 showing low depth of field and the second at f14 to show high depth of field.

Students can also take a ruler, place it on a table and make a picture utilizing f2 while focusing on a number along the ruler. Make that picture and study it. The next picture to make would be the same, but utilize f13 to view high depth of field. Pretty cool. Huh?!