70-200mm lens at f2.8, 1/1000, ISO 200
Football photo: If you flip through the pages of Sports Illustrated, you'll notice
how most of the players are sharp while the fans are out of focus. The wide
aperture chosen by the photographer not only creates that shallow depth of
field, but it also lets a great deal of light into the camera. As such, it's possible
to use a fast shutter speed to freeze the action. If you are serious about sports
photography, a lens that opens all the way to f2.8 is worth the investment. You
may even hear people refer to them as "fast lenses". This describes the speed in
which the wide aperture lets light into the camera.
Tip: Focus
on What's
Important!
Before going any further, allow me to spend a moment on focus.
When using a wide aperture, be sure to place your active focus
points on the subject you want sharpest. These two vineyard
photographs were both taken with the same wide aperture of f1.8,
but they look very different. This is due to my placement of the focus
point indicated in the photos by the arrows. For the image on top, I
focused on the vines closest to me. As a result, everything behind it
is soft. For the image on the bottom, I focused on the distant vines.
The shallow depth of field then works to blur everything in front of
my focus point.
Tuscany Vineyards: We can see how all of this comes together in Example 5 of the
Male Buck. I saw the large deer in October just after sunrise. With my active focus
point on his face, I knew the deer would be sharp. A wide aperture of 5.6 created
a shallow depth of field. Not only was the background blurred, but the tall reeds
in the foreground as well. The perspective makes it seem as if we're spying on the
creature through the tall grasses.
26 | PicsArt Monthly