Mon 4 Feb 2008
The other month I wrote a beginner’s guide to photographic technique for geeks, and judging by the number of hits and comments I received it went down well. One explanation is that there is a real market for articles on photographic technique that are written in plain English but don’t pull their punches when it comes to the technical details: articles for geeks. Another explanation is that the readers of digg.com/design wanted to skive off on a Friday afternoon, and at a first glance my white background pages are indistinguishable from real work. Being an optimist I shall assume the former, and crack on:
Bernie’s Better Guide to Depth of Field for Geeks Who Want to be Digital Artists
By the way, if you’re not sure what an f/1.8 aperture, 85mm focal length, or 1.6x crop factor camera body are, I suggest you have a look at last month’s beginner’s guide.
P.S.: SoPhoBoMo
Paul Butzi over at the Photo Musings blog has an idea that’s just perfect for beginner and advanced photographers alike to improve their skills. The goal of Solo Photo Book Month is to produce a professional PDF photo book with 35 images over the month of April. Afterwards you can post it online, keep it to yourself and feel smug, or even send it to a print-on-demand site like blurb.com and start selling it.
It has been eloquently argued that the most important development for the artist is arriving at a personal style. Technique - the stuff of my articles - is important because a lack of technical skill can prevent you from being able to express your personal vision. However if you don’t know what your personal vision is, you’ll never take photos that you consider to be art.
SoPhoBoMo is great because it may well help you define your personal style; that’s certainly what I’m hoping. I haven’t decided what my project is going to be, but I imagine my new-found love of macro photography will feature pretty heavily. 35 photos may seem a lot for one month, so pick a project that you can do along with your daily routine.
If you decide to go ahead, pledge your entry here. If I haven’t sold you on it, read this.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Just wanted to say “Thanks!” for the excellent depth of field article; I learned a lot from it. Got a new Rebel XTi on the way, so hopefully I’ll be able to put your knowledge to use soon. Take care!
February 25th, 2008 at 9:12 am
*Great* article!
April 11th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Just finished reading this and the beginner’s guide, you are a very talented gentleman and were you not apparently married already, i would have to propose to you. Purleeeeeaaaase could you do something on macros, i’d like to get a little closer than the 40″ (or something similarly poor) minimum focus distance on my kit lense, but am confused to death about macro lenses, “close up filters”, “extension tubes” and various methods mentioned on flickr which seem to be suggesting sticking a lense on backwards. Ideally, illustrated with pictures of the kit concerned and how you plug it all together, too (i know, i don’t ask much..)
April 11th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Aw shucks. I don’t get comments like these for my computer programming articles :o)
In order to use the kit lens for macro work, you could buy the Canon 12mm extension tube which will allow you to get right up close to a subject so it will appear larger. However, you will only have a few centimetres between the lens and your subject, so photographing skittish insects is out.
Personally I use a 500D close-up attachment on a 70-300 telephoto zoom. It’s basically a magnifying glass that screws onto the front of the lens and allows you to focus close. You can get good pictures of insects from a couple of feet away. If you can afford a 70-300, this is the most comfortable way of shooting macro, and allows you to do stuff like this:
The extension tubes work for normal and wide lenses like your kit lens, the 500D works for telephoto lenses.
April 11th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Thanks for the article. Its rare to find something so well written that has good depth. I often find the web full of ultra basic or ultra geeky stuff with no in-between like yours.
dan
August 9th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I read the line about casting your voice as that of Ian McKellen in my head and instantly reverted…it really was perfect. Thanks for such a well-written article! If only college textbooks were this clear! :P
August 31st, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Great Job on the SLR’s beginners guide. Almost all online introductions I read leave me “What the $#@” after reading it. Your article has been printed and put in my camera bag. I’m just looking at getting into the photography field (I am already a Geek) to enhance my print/graphics business. Thanks for the comic relief throughout!!
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Thanks for the in-depth (pun intended) explanation! I am going to go play with all of these new ideas.
November 22nd, 2008 at 3:09 am
Thanks for a great article. I just bought my first SLR and probably spent more on it than is healthy but I really wanted something to grow into, and I’m very happy with the Nikon D300 I bought. Finding good guides has been hard but I really think you have done a superb job. Keep up the good work and thanks for alleviating my growing pains ;)
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Thanks for a couple of superb articles ! I have your first one and the depth of field one, and they are superb !!! Keep up the good work !
Simon - Selkirk, Scotland !
January 9th, 2009 at 6:12 am
Hey just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to write this informative and in depth article!! I have only really begun to get into digital photography since March when I bought my Nikon D300 and definitely still learning. My pursuit of this material started with a question that came to mind as I am reading about a digital point-and-shoot that I am considering. It has a max aperture of f2.8, the same as my much larger Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 lens. That struck me as confusing so I looked for an answer. You article helped me understand! Thanks
Kyle
July 24th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
I was going through the beginner’s guide to photographic technique for geeks. This is the kind of information I was looking for a long long time.
Thanks a lot.
Ajith
December 20th, 2009 at 2:33 am
Wow! Thank you so much for this depth of field article and your beginners guide. It is exactly what I needed! The depth *haha pardon the pun* was amazing and you explained everything very clearly.
Thank you thank you!!
January 15th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
hi bernie
fist thanks for the time and the effort you put in explaining all the subject related to photography.
i m new in landscape photography , i m interested in hyperfocal distance. after reading your blog and others i started to understand this concept , but what confuses me more is the chart from http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html could you please explain to me what is the relation between , distance , near , far, and hyperfocal distance. and what distance this chart refer to 1….100
thanks