Depth of field - Research

The depth of field within an image is the amount of which it is in focus. A large depth of field means that most of the image will be in focus, whether what you are taking a photo of  is close or far away from the camera. With a shallow depth of field only one part of the image will be in focus and the rest of the image will be out of focus.

Examples:

Large depth of field:

Shallow depth of field:

(Note: Images are taken from www.secondpicture.com)

You can differentiate between the foreground and the background of a composition to determine where the main focus is for a shallow depth of field. Focusing on the foreground will mean the background will be out of focus and focusing on the background mean the foreground will be out of focus.

The focal point on this image is in the foreground, therefore the background is out of focus.

 

The Focal point is in the background, meaning the foreground is not in focus, and the focus is on the statue in the background of the image. 

You can select the focal point within a photograph by choosing one are to look at the most, such as the photo below the focus is on a few pegs on a washing line with all the other pegs and everything else around not in focus, therefore you eye it drawn straight to the few pegs in the centre of the photo.