How to Get Good Perspective and Depth of Field With a Digital Camera

Out of the many features that a digital cameravery hard to explain without images, but let's give
comes with, one that we particularly take intoit a shot. Imagine watching a cricket game on TV.
account is the power and quality of the lens.In a close-up image of the batsman, the
However, not everyone understands what is itwicket-keeper seems right behind him while the
that can be achieved by using a lens to its best.crowd is just a little further back. On a side-on
The difference between telephoto and wide angleview, you notice that the wicket-keeper is
lenses is not just about magnification. To use youractually about 10 meters away from the batsman
lenses in the best way possible, you need toand the viewers are approx. 60 meters further
know how the influence perspective and depth ofback. This happens because the telephoto lens
field.makes subjects look much closer to one another,
It is common knowledge that a telephoto lenscompressing the natural perspective. The same
enlarges all the objects in the photo. However,thing will happen if you take a landscape shot.
when you use the telephoto lens, you also reduceImagine that you are photographing a tree and a
depth of field by removing the background. This ismountain range further away. If you use the
a good way to eliminate any source of distractiontelephoto lens and take the shot from distance,
from the subject. There are two results of usingthe tree will seem very close to the mountains,
a telephoto lens: you minimize the amount ofbecause the lens also enlarges the mountains. If
background by narrowing the field and you get ayou take the same photo with a wide angle lens
small depth of field, ensuring that the backgroundstanding closer, the tree will take up the same
is out of focus. So when you take photos ofamount of space, but when you reduce the
people or animals, the best option is to use thescene so that the tree fits in the frame, the
telephoto lens or zoom in with the zoom lens. Youbackground also appears smaller... and therefore
will get a three dimensional impression, making thefurther away. So the wide-angle lens has the
subject emerge sharply and clearly from theopposite effect of the telephoto lens, augmenting
blurred background. A wide-angle lens, on theperspective and making the objects appear
other hand, does the complete opposite. It notfurther apart.
only makes everything look smaller, but has aIn simple terms, the outputs of these two lenses
much wider angle, as the name says, and theis this: the wide-angle lens makes the foreground
depth of field is much increased. You will not onlymore prominent, reducing the background and
see more background, but it will be a lot moremaking it seem more distant. The telephoto lens
focused. This is why this lens is not a good optionmakes the background more prominent and
for portraits, as the background will distract thelarger. So just changing your lens can deeply
viewer's attention from the subject. Instead, itaffect the impact of your pictures. You can
works great for landscape photos, especially ifcontrol not only the way the viewer views the
you have objects both in the background andsubject, but also the surroundings. You cannot get
foreground that you want to focus on.the whole idea without photos, so why not try
The other thing you take into account whenthese things out right now?
choosing the lens is perspective. The concept is