Week 4 Photojournalism Task – Depth of Field – Lucas Heslop

My first image displayed above is of a fellow classmate with a building and some more objects behind him. This photo was taken with the depth of field (dof) set to its highest possible setting. As you can see, the image is very detailed with everything being in shot and shown clearly in the image. Not only is the model shown in clear focus but so are the elements behind him as well. This was done on my iPhone, by going into the portrait settings and moving the f dot all the way to the highest setting. My aim for this photo was to make the image as detailed as possible by being able to see everything in the photo very clearly, and I believe that I was able to do this due to the settings I used. The image came out very clear and looked like what I was aiming for.

This second image pictured above, is an example of using the complete opposite settings. Once again, this shot includes the same model in front of the same background. To get this affect you have to use the lowest depth of field possible. This puts the subject closest to the camera in full focus whilst blurring out the background. To do this I also went into portrait mode and set the f dot all the way to its lowest setting. As you can see, the background is completely blurry making it only possible to focus on the model at the front, who is shot very clear to the eye. I aimed to get this affect as I wanted to only be able to focus on the model at the front of the shot, rather than the detailed background behind them. I think the image came out well, however if I was to do it again I would ensure that the models entire body is in shot as well as a less busy background so that the image looks cleaner.

Finally, my third photo was taken using the depth of field on a middle setting. This picture has the least obvious changes as the background is only slightly out of focus, whilst the model remains more in focus. I do not believe that this setting is very aesthetic as when I look at it I want to only focus on the model, but when doing so the background is still drawn in, which would normally be fine but in this case it is slightly blurry which does not give a nice affect in my opinion. To get this outcome I once again went on the portrait mode in my phone and changed the f dot to its middle setting.