13 Excellent Examples of Narrow Depth of Field

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.

Photo by Lewis Walsh

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About Author

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

17 Comments

Here’s a good example I think (even better when seen up close):

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fLs5wWzYzxU/S1gEx_JDtfI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/6llBO_M8MWY/s1600-h/kern_thomas.jpg

Nice one!

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

Tania

The 50mm is such a popular lens. I love my 50mm for my nikon.

Swissjourno, That is a wonderful shot!! These are some great examples narrow DOF

Those are some really nice photos depth of field. Nice work!

Glad you enjoyed the collection, Tony. 🙂

Wow! Thank you so much for using my image as an example, I’m genuinely flattered.

Keep up the great work, Lewis!

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! 🙂

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!

These are fantastic. Thanks for sharing!

Anytime! 🙂

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!