Depth of field is the zone of acceptable sharpness within a photo that will appear in focus. In every picture there is a certain area of your image in front of, and behind the subject that will appear in focus.

This zone will vary from photo to photo. Some images may have very small zones of focus which is called shallow depth of field. Others may have a very large zone of focus which is called deep depth of field.

Three main factors that will affect how you control the  depth of field:

• aperture (f-stop),
• distance from the subject to the camera
• focal length of the lens on your camera.

Knowing how to make the parts of your image you want sharp and the parts you want to be out of focus, is a great artistic tool to create great images.

Shallow depth of field can be used in:

• Wildlife photography- where you want the subject to stand out from its surroundings
• Sports photography- where  you want to separate the athlete from the background to bring attention to them

Deeper depth of field can be used in:

• Landscape photography- to get as much of the scene in focus as possible