A Foolproof Way to Understand Depth of Field in DSLRs

Depth of Field is a topic that every camera user must learn at some point or another — that is, if said user wants to produce photos that look sharp, intentional, and even professional. Unfortunately, the topic can be difficult to grasp.

Simply put, depth of field describes how much area will be in focus when a photo is taken. You can think of it as a pair of invisible walls — one closer to the camera and one further from the camera — that are infinitely tall. The area in between the walls is the “field”.

When you focus on a subject, the walls surround the subject and everything in the field comes out sharp while everything outside the field comes out blurry. The distance between the two “walls” is determined by the camera’s aperture size — the bigger the f-number, the bigger the field size (and thus, more will be in focus).

But this is all theoretical and abstract, which is why so many people find it confusing. If you still don’t get it, don’t worry. We haven’t gotten to the foolproof method yet. In fact, let me present the method right now: using an online virtual DSLR camera.

The Outside of Auto tool by Canon lets you play around with settings on a virtual DSLR to see how changes impact photo results in real-time. After fiddling with the aperture setting, you’ll instantly understand how depth of field works.

If you need extra assistance, or you just want to continue your photography education, check out these free YouTube photography channels as well as these excellent Lynda.com photography courses.

Which photography topics did you find hard to grasp? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit: Retro Aperture by Triff via Shutterstock