couldn't figure out my depth of field assignment

rightright915

New member
my teacher gave me an assignment designed to play around with different depth of field images.

the setup: a book with 3 objects at different distances from the camera. the camera at a focal length of 30-40 mm and on a tripod.

the assignment: take 3 images of the first object but with a small, medium, and large aperture. and the same for the 2nd and 3rd object all using manual mode, manual focus, matrix or center weighted metering.

my problem: the pictures looked very similar to each other. i could not get the camera to focus on the middle or the far object. i moved the toggle box to the according object and focused on it but they still looked the same for the most part.

the 3 photos attached are 3 different apertures @ f5, f11, and f29
what am i doing wrong???
 

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Ruidoso Bill

Senior Member
First, the rear two items are nearly the same distance so when one is in or near focus, the other is in or near focus, there is a difference between the front and rear items. Try putting the three items in three different distance locations. Also, depending on your lens (how fast) you may not see a lot of difference, you need to think of depth of field where at f settings like 1.8 the "Band" of focus is very narrow and at f22 the band of focus is much wider. Hope that helps.
 
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Joseph Bautsch

New member
You aren't doing anything wrong. What you are trying to demonstrate is there but may not be to the degree you are looking for. The depth of field of a 30 to 40 mm setting on the lens is very deep even at f5. If you can get below f/5 do so. Also the focus distance may be too great to get the depth you are looking for. Try using the minimum focus distance of the lens. Move the camera as close to the subject as you can and still have it in focus. Use the 40mm focal length. Then take the shots required. The 30-40mm focal length is wide angle for your camera. As you are finding out the depth of field at that focal length is deep enough that it is difficult to get it small enough to demonstrate a greater effect on focus. Focus distance has the greatest effect on depth of field so focusing at the minimum distance will give you the best chance to increase the effect to a more visible level. Actually the pictures you have do demonstrate what you are looking for. It is very slight and you have to look closely at the shots to see it but it is there. Hope this helps.
 
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rightright915

New member
thank you both for the help. i got the images i wanted by increasing the distance between the objects. i was too busy thinking of the technical stuff that i overlooked the obvious.
 
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