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Getting Extreme or Maximum Depth of Field

Since getting back into photography, nothing has given me more grief than "Maximum Depth of Field." This is when, as in the example above (sort of), you take an image and are able to get the majority of the picture in maximum focus, including objects both near and far. You don't always want this, but if you know how to do it, especially in landscape photography, the effect can be breathtaking. By the way, I did it above completely by accident, and it's not as good as it could be.

Ok, if you're looking for a technical or detailed explanation for how to do this, you've come to the wrong place. There's lots of sites to go to for that, where you'll read about depth of field, hyperfocal distances and circles of confusion. Worthwhile to read, but I read them and still couldn't figure it out. Once I figured it out, then they made sense. This is a nuts and bolts, do this and you'll get the results! Then you can read up the technical stuff and find out why it happens.

First you're going to need a hyperfocal distance chart. This link gives you four different charts, two for 35mm cameras and two for digital slrs. (one in meters and one in feet for each. You'll want to print out whichever one applies to you and keep it in your camera bag at all times.) The hyperfocal distance is basically the sweet spot of your lens at any given distance and f/stop, and it's different at every aperture (f/stop) and distance (in the case of my wide angle lens from 18mm-50mm.) When you take a picture focused on the hyperfocal distance, sweet spot, you will get the maximum focus you could get in that instance. Most people cheat by focusing on infinity, or one third of the way into the picture or at the farthest point, which will give you decent, but hit and miss results, but nothing like focusing on the sweet spot.

Okay, making it happen, I promise this will be, at least, as clear as mud - might need to read the how to a few times...

First of all, for getting extreme or maximum depth of field. You'll need a wide angle lens. Mine is a 50mm lens which means that it starts at 18mm and goes up to 55mm.

The other thing for maximum depth of field is you need to be working with f/stops lower than f/11 (which is actually the reverse of what it sounds - from f/11 to f/36 let's say) the higher the number the more extreme the depth of field you can get. (for the sake of saying it, the higher f/stops f/4 etc. give you shallow/minimum depth of field - great for portraits for example or any time you want to draw the attention to one object.)

You should be well on the way to being confused by now. Now it gets really confusing.

So, looking to the chart on the left, here's what you need to know. The bottom numbers represent the different distances on your lens, as I said before, in the case of my wide angle lens from 18-55mm.

The diagonal lines in the body of the chart represent your f/stops. And these intersect the distance markers at different distances.

The numbers on either side of the chart represent the hyperfocal distance (the sweet spot), in feet, when a f/stop intersects a given distance. The point, when you focus on an object, in your picture, at that particular distance, you will get maximum depth of field or maximum focus throughout your entire composition. Even though when you look through the viewfinder, it will look like that object you focused on is the main thing in focus. I'd explain that, but just trust me on that one, what you see is not what you get. Okay, let's go to the chart.

The example on the chart shows that, when you set your distance ring at 50mm and the f/stop at f/16, the point where the two lines intersect is 17 feet. So here's how it all works.

With my distance ring set at 50mm and my f/stop set at f/16 if I focus on an object in my picture that is 17 feet away from me. I will get maximum depth of field/overall focus in my picture. That means, and don't worry about this too much, but that means that everything from 8.5 feet into infinity will be in the greatest possible focus you can get at 50mm at f/16. Why 8.5 feet? Things will start to look in focus at half the distance of the hyperfocal distance. In this case 17 feet and half of that is 8.5. Not that it's important for now, but eventually knowing this will help calculate things if you want to work this out by doing the calculation according to which point you want everything to begin in focus. Don't worry about it for now.

If you want to know whether you got it look at the chart and calculate; what would be the hyperfocal distance if I set my distance to 35mm at an f/22 f/stop?

If you said 6 feet. You got the hyperfocal distance (the sweet spot) of your lens at that distance and that f/stop. So, at those settings when your composing your picture, if you focus on an object that's 6 feet away from you. You will get maximum depth of field/overall focus when you take your picture at 35mm at f/22. Again, even though when you look through the viewfinder, it only looks like the object you just focused on is the main thing in focus. Freaky, but true. Using this method and the chart you downloaded, you can figure this out at any distance and any f/stop. Note again. For maximum focus you want to use the lower f/stops (which is actually the higher f/stop numbers.)

The last thing I will suggest for you to get the best shot/most in focus possible, use a tripod and use your timer so that no part of you touches the camera when you trip the shutter. You'll be amazed at the results. Remember, practice makes perfect. I've been trying to figure this out for months. Yesterday I finally got it. I hope I've saved you some time.

So how do you know how far an object is from you. First, work with the measurement you're most comfortable with, feet/meters. Next, I hope your good at eyeballing distance. Otherwise you can actually buy a distance measurer or whatever they're called. There's some tricks you can find online for calculating distance, but unless this is professional photography if you're good with estimating distance, it should serve you well.

There's a good chance the professionals would laugh at how I've laid this out. All I know is it works. And once you know it works then understanding how it works comes much, much easier. Enough of that. I'll leave you to a link of what this can lead to when done properly. Now I don't know how much post editing is done to these photos but forget that, and just look at how everything is in focus from the front all the way to the back of all the pictures Check it out.

Posted by ed