Zabriskie Point in Death Valley, CA is part of the northern Black Mountains, in the Armargosa Range. Facing west, this photo overlooks Furnace Creek and towards the Panamint Mountains.
Zabriskie Point is a popular spot for photographers (Ansel Adams had a lot to do with that, I suspect.) So, the challenge was how to create a unique photograph of an area that has been shot thousands of times. I did this through careful composition. I composed the photograph to capture a strong foreground that would compliment (not distract from) the dynamic background. (Here is more information on Photographic Composition.) I, also, shot it with a wide angle lens, small aperture and sizable distance from my subject for maximum depth of field in order to maximize sharpness from the foreground all the way through to the background. The landscape itself has great depth, so I didn’t sacrifice the appearance of depth in the photograph by shooting it with maximum depth of field.
- Lines on this flower photo show what area of the photo is in acceptable focus. The Depth of Field is the area in focus.
What does all that mean?
At its simplest, Depth of Field (DOF) is the area that’s in focus in a photograph, from near ground to background. There are several ways to control your DOF:
1. Lens Aperture (f-stop)
2. Focal Length of Lens
3. Distance between the lens and the subject
1. DOF will increase with the f-stop.
Larger f-stop number = Greater DOF (more in focus)
Smaller f-stop number = narrower DOF (less in focus)
In landscape photography, maximum depth of field is often preferred, like in this Zabriskie Point photograph. However, in portrait photography, narrow DOF is often the choice, to aid in isolating the subject from distractions in the background.
Shallow DOF. Shot with 100mm at f 2.8.
Max Depth of Field. Shot with 100mm at f 25.
2. The Zabriskie Point landscape photograph was shot with a 75mm large format lens, which is a wide angle lens (in large format photography). Wide angle lenses have smaller focal lengths. The smaller the focal length, the greater the DOF. A 300mm lens will have a much shallower DOF than a 50mm (regardless of whether the lens is digital or film, small or large format).
3. Subject distance can also be manipulated to control your DOF.
Greater distance between subject and lens = greater DOF
Less distance between subject and lens = less DOF
Less distance to subject equals less DOF.
Greater distance to subject equals greater DOF.
Valerie earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Applied Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2000. In 2005, she founded Valerie Hayken Photography & Design. Visit
It’s time to take out my favorite SLR (a classic Minolta with limited auto features) camera again. I always had issues with f-stops, got frustrated and packed it up even though it has a great lens and takes beautiful photos. You’ve given me realistic inspiration to try again. Thanks for being so easy to understand.
Glad to hear it! Those old cameras are real work horses. I still shoot with my original Pentax K1000, occasionally. I’m sure I’ll talk more about f-stops so keep your eye on the blog! If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask them here.
Thanks,
Valerie