One thing many photographers just starting out don’t often realize is how important your aperture is to controlling depth of field. Taking full control of your depth of field can drastically change your photos and really help accent a subject, especially when shooting macro. Take for example the following three photos. By simply opening up the aperture, the depth of field shortens dramatically making my subject pop from the background.

The following photos were shot with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 and Panasonic 45mm Macro Lens with dual YS-D1 strobes and a Light & Motion Sola 800 on red mode. ISO 200, 1/250.

Photo 1: Aperture F22

In my opinion the picture is nice, but not great. It’s really way too busy, and your eye can’t decide if the subject is the shrimp or the moray eel. The depth of field at F22 is deep, so just about the entire image is in focus, with the eel ever so slightly blurred.

Photo 2: F11

This photo is much better due to the shortened depth of field.  The eel is blurred more, making the shrimp in the foreground really pop. However, the eel is still easy to make out as an eel, which adds to the photo.

Photo #3: F2.8

The last photo in this series is at the extreme end of the aperture range, 2.8. The depth of field is so shallow that the background is completely blurred out, and if you didn’t know that grey blob in the background was an eel. If you are working to isolate a subject, using depth of field is a very useful tool. The shallow focus plane limits the focus so your eye is immediately drawn to the subject, the shrimp.

Of course the final decision on which works best lies in the eyes of the photographer. For me, the final photo really stands out with the sharp focus on the shrimp eye and body, but if you wanted to show the diversity of life with both moray eel and shrimp then photo #2 at F11 would be the winner.

Which photo do you like best and why?

The post Using Depth of Field to Enhance your Subject first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Sometimes finding a subject that inspires you to lift the camera up to your eye is challenging.  I recently took my 105mm macro lens and SubSee +10 close-up lens with me to Anacapa Island, and I found my inspiration in a tiny, but common subject: a Christmas Tree worm.  The colorful feeding plume was a perfect subject to use with my SubSee +10 diopter.

I used auto-focus to focus on my finger until I was close to 1:1, then I swung my +10 lens in front of the port.  Then I simply rocked back and forth until I achieved the right focal plane, and fired.  I used the SOLA 800 in red light mode as to not scare the worm into its hole, and adjusted my strobes accordingly for the desired lighting.

Equipment: Nikon D7000 in Sea & Sea housing, Nikon 105mm macro lens, SubSee +10 close-up lens, and dual Ikelite strobes set to manual power.

Settings: 1/200, F13, ISO 160, uncropped.

The post New Spin on a Common Subject first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.