This last weekend the family and I were visiting a local farm that is almost like a zoo. We spent no more than 20 minutes there before lightning forced the officials to declare the park closed. We spent the next 45 minutes hiding under an open-air porch with nothing else to do, so, we took pictures! I had recently been reminded about the benefits of using shallow depth of field (DOF) to really isolate a subject, and I happened to have my Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens with me. The lighting was very interesting as it was very light outside the porch, but very dark underneath it. Combine this lighting with a shallow DOF (f/1.8) and you get something like this:
This is my oldest daughter. I had her stay under the porch with one side of her face toward the light and other toward the inside of the porch. I believe this type of lighting is also referred to as Rembrandt lighting. Either way, I really like the effect.
This is one of my lovely wife:
For this shot I had her lean on the porch railing with face to the light. I really love how all details of the porch behind her are completely lost so nothing is there to distract you from the subject.
The other way to do this is to deliberately blow out the background like in this shot:
This was taken with their back to the light and I was under the porch. By properly exposing their faces, the background is almost completely blown out. However, there are still some details which keeps it from looking like they are floating, which I feel looks unnatural. The shallow DOF bit me a little bit here. My youngest daughter's face is tack sharp, but my wife, who is slightly behind the focal plane is just a tad out of focus. I applied some minor sharpening to her eyes, but they are still not as sharp as my daughter's. I still think the shot is a success, however.
Like anything else, DOF is a tool and it is not right for every type of photograph. When you really want to isolate a subject, however, it can be extremely effective.
I will try to post again very soon. I just bought a Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 and I am very eager to put it through the paces. Be watching for my report.
Chris
