Project:Focus - Set Aperture

The aim of this project is to determine the effects of a using fixed aperture when changing the point of focus.
Given the nature of the recent weather, the non-stop grey cloud giving a flat featureless light which has plagued me over the past month, I decided to move indoors for this project.

I set up a white panel to try and bounce available light back into the shot and soften the shadows I also set up the flash to one side to provide a small amount of fill.

Image 1 : 50mm f/1.4 1/40 ISO 100

Image1: I focussed on the smallest doll first, and was pleased with the way the narrow depth of field helped isolate it. Also the lack of focus wasn't that great as to completely lose definition in the other dolls.

Image 2 : 50mm f/1.4 1/50 ISO 100

Image 2: I moved the point of focus to the middle sized dolls and this helped to isolate them amongst the others. However I found this less pleasing given the subject matter than the Image 1. I do feel though that if you need to isolate a person or an item within a central position in a frame this would be a good option.

Image 3 : 50mm f/1.4 1/50 ISO 100

Image 3: This brings the background into clear focus but I feel it does not give the same feeling of depth as Images 1. and 2 which would be my preference.

Using a narrow Depth of Filed to isolate the main item in an image works well with static subjects. Using this technique to isolate foreground subjects and blurring the background works best. I would consider the best use would be to use this in portraiture, particularly to isolate the subject from  a distracting background.