13 Excellent Examples of Narrow Depth of Field

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When I first started to take photography seriously over 10 years ago, mastering depth of field was high on my priority list.  Shooting with a narrow depth of field involves setting your camera lens to the widest possible setting and then focusing on one particular part of the frame.  The stark contrast between in and out of focus portions of the frame concentrating around the subject and relative distance to other things in the frame creates a wonderful, visually appealing, texture enriched image.  In my mind, being able to properly produce a shot with the right depth of field makes the difference between a snapshot and a photograph.  Here's 13 excellent examples of narrow depth of field to give you some inspiration.

Country park 1

Photo by Lewis Walsh

Reaching

Photo by DonkerDink

Aphid's delight.

Photo by dustin_j_williams

Baby

Photo by gabi_menashe

Buckman Flair Promo

Photo by conorwithonen

Dissolving in Three

Photo by Massics

creatures of depth of field

Photo by edgaa

Technics SL-1200mk2 Turntable

Photo by tricky ™

Bokeh-Festival 1

Photo by Morgennebel

bokeh link fence

Photo by Will Montague

Chess with champagne !

Photo by Mukumbura

Daily Disney - Tea Cups at Night (Explored)

Photo by Express Monorail (taking a break)

fountain pen

Photo by [phil h]

About Author

is a professional photographer. See his site at Mike Panic Photography.

I too have been playing w/ this narrow depth. I recently bought a new canon 50mm and am in LOVE.
Thanks for sharing!

Tania

Great selection of photos! Is it being pedantic to say it should be “shallow” depth of field rather than narrow? Possible, maybe I don’t quite understand the concept! 🙂

G

Greg – good point, but in this case, it kind of depends on where you grew up and who / how you learned to shoot from, as shallow and narrow essentially mean the same thing. When I started to shoot, I liked the results I got from slide film, but people older then me often referred to it as “chrome” or “transparency” film. I’ll watch how I use terms for the future articles.

Also – I think EVERYONE should own a 50mm f/1.8 lens regardless of what camera outfit you have. It’s cheap and produces great photos across the board!

Greg – good point, but in this case, it kind of depends on where you grew up and who / how you learned to shoot from, as shallow and narrow essentially mean the same thing. When I started to shoot, I liked the results I got from slide film, but people older then me often referred to it as “chrome” or “transparency” film. I’ll watch how I use terms for the future articles.

Also – I think EVERYONE should own a 50mm f/1.8 lens regardless of what camera outfit you have. It’s cheap and produces great photos across the board!

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