How to add a Shallow Depth of Field in Landscape Images

A shallow depth of filed is a very common and attractive way to add a sense of dimension in images. You can mostly find it in macro shots, close-ups and portraits. In this post I want to talk about a different side of depth of field, and that's depth in landscape shots.

click on the images for a bigger view

Here is a side by side comparison of the same shot with a wide depth of field (left) and shallow depth of field (right). It's the same view, but the shallow depth of field adds more interest to a specific aeria of the image.

The trick to getting these types of shots in camera is to use the Av mode on your dslr camera. The Av mode controls the aperture of your lens.

On canons, you switch to Av Mode by sliding the dial to "Av", and then you use the round dial on the front of the camera (picture below), to set the aperture.

If you set it to a high number like 11 and above you will get crisp images, like the version below.

But here is the trick. If you set it to a small number like 1.8, 2, even 3, and then focus on a specific aeria of your image, and take that shot, only the focused part will actually stay in focus. Everything else will be blurry.

I am not saying that this is the way to go with landscape photography, but it does create a nice effect in your images. That's why I thought I would share this quick and simple method.

Of course, this method works the other way around as well. For crisp and sharp landscape shots, use a high aperture number. That way you can get sharp shots like the one that follows.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed this quick tip, and I also hope it'll inspire you on your next photo session!