52 Week Smartphone Challenge: 29 Depth of Field

Posted on July 19, 2020

Week 29 of the Smartphone Challenge is a bit of a strange one. ‘Use DOF to make a subject appear part of something larger’.

I know what they mean and I even know how it can be achieved with a normal camera – you use a very narrow aperture to give a deep depth of field so that both foreground and background are in focus.

The problem is that depth of field on a smartphone camera is fixed. The camera on my iPhone 11 has two settings: wide (ƒ1.8) and ultra wide (ƒ2.4). Narrow they ain’t.

No doubt someone out there can tell this bear of little brain how to do it, but for now I will have to settle for this trompe l’oeil photo of an old watering can, seen at a vide grénier in Blond.

Taken head on, the spout can’t be seen so the rose looks like it’s part of something larger that is the can itself.

52WeekSmartphoneChallenge: 29 Depth of Field

Category: Uncategorized Tagged: 52 Week Smartphone Challenge, 52WeekSmartphoneChallenge, Depth of field, Optical Illusion, watering can

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Perspectives on the Pont Valentre

Posted on April 13, 2018

The Pont Valentré, which bridges the river Lot in Cahors, dates from the fourteenth century, so certainly qualifies for Cee’s category this week of anything over 50 years old.

Then again, so do I….

The bridge’s four towers makes it visually appealing not only from a distance but also – unlike some – when you’re actually standing on it.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Over 50 years old

Category: Black & White Tagged: Architecture, Black & White, Cahors, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Depth of field, Perspective, Pont Valentre

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52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 32 – Shallow Depth of Field

Posted on May 1, 2017

To my mind, the manipulation of depth of field that is possible with a DSLR camera is one of the most creative aspects of photography. As The Girl That Dreams Awake rightly says in setting this week’s theme, it is most commonly used in macro and portrait photography.

Well, I don’t take many portraits but I do photograph a lot of flowers, where shallow depth of field is particularly effective. This close-up (as opposed to macro) image of a bud about to open was shot at ƒ2.8 – as big an aperture as it gets on that particular lens – in order to throw the background out of focus, providing some pleasing bokeh to complement the subject.