I shoot at my local zoo a lot. Long lens, wide open, get as close to the bars, as I can. Use manual focus, if necessary, to focus on the subject, instead of the bars. Bars go bye-bye. Depth Of Field is not just for blurring backgrounds. Out of focus foreground elements can either be made to disappear, or form a blurred frame for your subject.
I love your videos, but have to disagree with your explanation of the FF/crop situation. Sure a larger sensor can't create blur on its own, but for the same FOV at the same distance, a FF camera will have a larger aperture than a crop sensor camera. If you express aperture in terms of mm rather than f/n, an equivalent lens for a crop sensor will have a smaller aperture. (Just an alternative explanation for others reading the comments, obviously I'm not trying to explain this to a pro photographer.)
I think I just worked that same thing out on my own in response to a different comment, and doing the math made it click. Thanks for pointing it out here as well!
THIS is the first and only comprehensive explanation of bokeh I’ve encountered since 1970! Simon presents it simply, and clearly! There IS nothing else to know, or understand about bokeh! Well done Simon!!!
Your video style is easily understandable even as a foreigner who doesn't use english as a main language. Also the way you explain things makes it really easy to understand and remember for the future. I have discovered this channel a few weeks ago and it is the best photography channel I found. Keep up the good work Simon! :)
In 50 years of photography I have never has depth of field and Bokeh better explained. Outstanding Simon, thank you for the obvious effort you put into this video.
Just as you think there is a subject that you completely understand and can't learn anything new about (even though it is always hard to put into practice), Simon gives another tip to improve your photos you didn't know or think about. Great video, many thanks!
Simon, Excellent video. Thank you for taking the time to do a thorough explanation and create the diagrams to represent your comments. I’m amazed at how many different topics you are able to provide to us and all have been very interesting. I love when I see you have a new video in my RU-vid feed.
Your videos are outstanding. When I was younger I was into film photography and understood the basics of SS, aperture, ASA, etc. Years later I buy a fairly sophisticated digital camera and was overwhelmed with all control options,. So I shot in auto too much. You videos inspired me to dust off the 400 page manual and tame it. Your video are like a class where I really liked the professor, I looked forward to each class.
I think the auto modes of today are really good and return usable photos most of the time. No need to go to completely manual most of the times. But it's good to know which values to control for the desired effect and let the auto do the rest. Especially if your motives are not in a controlled environment.
I have seen these concepts explained dozens of times over the years, and I think your explanations here are the ones that make it easiest ti understand. Excellently done video! I especially appreciate the production quality - you put a lot of work into this and it shows!
I learn so much from this channel! As a beginner, the subjectivity and artistry of photography feel very daunting to me. Your clear explanations of the physics behind the techniques makes it much more digestible. Every time you post and I learn something, I enjoy photography even more.
It funny how so many other channels still say that full frame gives you a blurrier background. I’m pretty sure you might be the only one speaking the facts on that subject.
Great video as always. Reminds me of when I started photography (not so long ago) and only shot at f1.2 (on crop sensor) because its results felt instantly professional! Recently, I've gone the other way by trying to keep most of each scene in focus (for street shots), which certainly presents additional challenges for composition.
All points you make are correct, as usual. But even in wildlife photography it is by no means necessary or even wishvoll to always blur the background. There are many means to emphasize the main subject without blurring the background: Light, colour, composition etc. Often it is even desirable to show the habitat of an animal, what makes the image more interesting than a completly isolated animal desplayed in a blurred environment. This summer I had an encounter with a trustingly fox in our Swiss National Park. I therefore was able to photograph it with my wide angle lens only in a distance of only about three meters: It probably became the most impressive image of an animal I ever shot: The fox dominantly in front of a range of high mountains in the background.
Although I already knew everything you said, you explained it so well and clearly that it makes more sense now. Your animations and examples were absolutely perfect and I loved that website for simulating different camera settings! This is top tier quality content, keep it up! 😎👍
I've been a photographer for many years. I've never had someone demonstrate - verbally and graphically - the relationship between aperture size and depth of field with respect to the steeper angle of the light rays - brilliant. Thanks. Also, I like that you alternately described a thin DOF as "shallow." That word works better for me conceptually, as I suspect it does for others.
Thanks Simon for all the simple but great info. I have started shooting portraits with long lenses especially for this bokeh effect. It sounds a bit crazy but i shoot with M4/3 camera and a 200mm f2.8 which is equivalent to 400mm FF. The backround just melts away. And yes, its outdoor portraiture. Indoor i use the 85mm equivalent and if possible the 150mm equivalent lens.
Just cant say enough how helpful your videos are. Just facts and examples which is so helpful and not a lot of superfluous language in between. We love these videos. Thank you by the time my camera arrives. I might actually know a little bit about how to use it.
You are right, bu you are too empirical about this. The thing on the lens that directly affects the blurrines of the photos is the aperture diameter. That's why f1/64 on large format is as sharp as f1/1.8 on a smartphone or why 100mm f2.8 on 6x9 looks as blurry as 50mm f1.4 on 35mm.
Thank you so much for yet another great vlog. Your content is incredible and very well explained. I understand much more about photography because of you. However, and please pardon me for such pettiness, but I'm NOT a fan of your intro music. It's just weird. That's my problem, not yours. Thanks again for such fantastic content.
You are one of the best explainers of photography on the net. Your style and words make it all very clear. I've known most of this stuff (minus the bonus tip -which I always look forward to) for years. But, a refreshing thank you, Simon! My only "small" wish is that you get back out into the field again. I'm sure it's much harder to put together those kind of videos. I get it. Thanks heaps for what you do and always look forward to your vlogs! Merci beaucoup!
@@simon_dentremontI bet, now that you are so thoroughly established on RU-vid, if you had an idea for an “in the field” video and you applied what you’ve learned about thumbnails and titles over the last year, and kept an educational component to it, you’d probably still get decent viewership, no? Now I’m curious how your Botswana video did. It was lovely. It’s possible the length scared viewers off? I geek out over this stuff. I just checked and it did well! Not your top video but 80k views ain’t bad at all!
Simon, have you done an autobiography video about how you got into photography, who taught you, etc, to where you are now as a professional wildlife photographer?
When I was young and cheap, I would just use the photoshop blur tool to get my bokeh. Now I'm older, and still cheap. I have a G9 and often wonder if I should switch to full frame, but I also, don't want to loose the m4/3 zoom.
Why do I drop my camera, every time all these photographers suddently mentions Scarspace? The way, it kind of infects RU-vid and is placed, in start of videos, suddently in videos, is just plain out annoying to a degree, that ruins a good shot. We all know, that photographers should have their own virtual private server for fast graphics heavy websites and sharing files with clients in a secure manner. It's a fraction of the cost, it's more secure and it's gives control of GDPR and data design. Thanks for great video.
And this is when F.4 becomes very useful and why I'm hesitant to let the F4 go for a more affordable lens, like a zoom with lets say f6.3 or a f7.1. I like the very thin depth of field of the F4. I could get similar results with a narrower opening but it's a lot more hassle.
I have known about the various techniques for reducing or increasing depth of field for some time but never considered the technical reasons why. Your explanation made a lot of sense. I use a raw file processor with very sophisticated masking facilities so can often introduce blurred backgrounds in post. Otherwise, I have a nice collection of old, wide aperture primes that I bought 2nd hand that have nice short DOF at wide apertures and are nice to use on landscapes. Thank you for another great video.
I'm new into photography, the amount of information i got from your videos is priceless, clear informative and straight to the point, thank you so much I'm exploring on my sony A7R4 ,
With more possibilities to blurry after processing, how worry you should be about to have a blurry background in a photography, since faster lenses are more expensives.
Considered to be "cheating" by some, there are also post processing solutions to background blurring that have improved dramatically in recent times. If considered an more efficient tool, perhaps it is more a solution than "cheating."
I guess I'm still struggling with the different ways to get shallow dof. I usually use my widest aperture, until I got my nifty fifty was about 4.5 on my zoom lenses, as well as get close and zoom out. I guess I can't do the last two at the same time. I'm going to have to check out the dof simulator.
that crop sensor tid bit was crazy. still, to get the same thing in the shot you'd need a wider lens than with full frame. I wouldn't be able to walk closer for better background separation because the sensor doesn't capture the entirety of what the full frame would at the same distance.
little note about the difference in depth of field and sensor size part: with a full frame camera you can get close to your subject that the closer focus distance will make the DOF decrease. but you can also compensate by going with a longer lens. Let's say you use a 200mm lens on an APS-C camera with a crop factor of 1.5. If you want to achieve the same angle of view with a full frame camera, you'll need to pick a lens that as the same equivalent focal length as on the APS-C body, so here 300mm. If the aperture value is the same, then the fact that you're using a longer lens will make the background blurrier, even if you didn't get closer.
This is the first time I actually noticed the perfect line around YOU in the talking head part of this video. Background light? Buddy, you are the best online. So much value from your videos. well done. Bo
While I knew all this information already, this was by far the best explanation of it I've ever seen. I wish I would have been able to watch this video when I first started doing photography.
Fantastic! I've learned something new today! I LOVE learning! Your video was perfect and really PRO! Everything was clear, simple, and easy to understand. Thank you very much, Simon!
Nice video, like all your videos ! To have the background more far away, put the camera on the ground level ! This will smooth the background. At the ground level the heat can affect the sharpness/focus.
Simply excellent video, Simon. Your lucid explanations coupled with the graphic illustrations bring an understanding of the subject matter into clear focus (I just couldn't resist). I look forward to your videos regardless of how much I may already know about the content. My sincere thanks for the expertise and presentation style that you're willing to share.
I watched this video for fun as I thought I knew everything I needed to know but you explain things so well, I feel like I’ve learned a whole lot more!
The 100 would be too tight for most shots to include a building. 35 would work at 1.8. But with wide angle lenses you don’t get as much blur. A 50 1.4 would get you more.
Hi Simon, thanks for your explanations. This said, what you mentioned about a full frame sensor not influencing the bokeh is not correct. What defines the bokeh is the circul of confusion, which is directly linked to the sensor size. Considering this, take a 35 mm FX f/1.4 and an APS-C 23 mm f1/4 (35 mm equiv), using the same framing for the subject, you therefore get the same distance from the subject, but different depth of field for the same framing, due to a difference in the circle of confusion between a full frame sensor and an APS-C sensoer. So your explanation is actually wrong. DOF Simulator shows it pretty well . Regards
Hi Simon, Just dropped by to say thank you for all your efforts. You’re so good in elaborating topics and making them easy to digest. Many folks have photography channels here on RU-vid, but not so many are as adequate as you are. Much respect and gratitude 🙏🏻
Hey Simon! A question: How else do I increase my shutter speed when I'm on 5.6f and auto ISO(100) ? What I did was put the ISO on 400 to bring the shutter speed to 100+. I find myself in this situation where handling 1/20ish is really tricky. I got some clean and sharp images but it took time and energy. Could it be a metering issue since I'm still figuring out what works and what not? Is there something I forget or did wrong? Thank you, your work helps learning efficient and enjoying this hobby.
Simon your content is so easy to digest, thank you for that. Hey, quick idea: How about some FRENCH crash course in photography terminology? Of course, this is me assuming, sorry if I'm mistaken
I heard others say not to have the aperture as open as it can because it won't be sharp. Is that something you've noticed? I've only seen it when using the Canon 24-105 f4 with my R7, it looks a little fuzzy at f4, but using my Sigma 50mm f1.4, although being an older lens and needing an adapter, doesn't seem to have that issue. I don't notice it on the R, maybe because the R is a few megapixels smaller, but they're both still high enough megapixel that I notice issues on some older EF lenses.
Thanks for the tutorial. The pictorial explanation was directly from the physics classroom. And who doesn’t like a diagram to explain concepts. Thanks a ton. I know that time is a constraint in these videos but pacing it a bit would definitely help. Subscribed and liked!!! Keep up the good work!!!
As a newish photographer I have struggled to understand depth of field since I do bird photography mostly. As you know, birds fly in and out quickly sometimes, so how do you calculate depth of field on the fly so to speak? Thank you Simon.
I always thought the bokeh was how the points of light in the distance were handled, I.e. circles, onion rings, cats eyes, not the general out of focus as to me out of focus in many cases is out of focus if you can’t detect any background details? During covid lockdown when we were allowed out for exercise I hired a 400mm 2.8. Got some nice bird shots with it but also took some shots of a family member in the garden. Got a very nice separation, but I don’t see portrait photographers opting for this set up any time soon, tad bulk and who has 50mm studio ! 😂
Yes, correct, as I said in the video, the bokeh is the artistic quality of the background. Often this is interpreted, as you say, as the quality of light points and blobs.
Greetings from Portugal. You are the best. Saw your videos and some of them multiple time. Very very informative and well explained. I can see that there is a lot of thought involved. And also I saw a big evolution over time from your beginning and always with the same humbling experience teaching on a simple manner. Thanks
I remember hearing that the aperture isn't exactly a fixed size, it depends also on the focal length. Didn't understand that, so maybe I didn't say that right. Like your 500mm lens has f4, but is that the same size as say, a 10mm at f4?
Great video, Simon! While I was already aware of everything you went over in this video, I still enjoyed the clear and meticulous way you went over the material. Bravo!
Does wide aperture come into play along with the other three? I feel like anything over f8 will increase the dof, so even if the background is far it could still be in focus. Sorry so many comments, I guess I'm still confused. I need to go back to basics.
Simon, the reason for the larger sensors to produce smaller depths of field is explained by difraction (circle of confusion). If 2 cameras with different sensor sizes and equivalent lenses (in terms of angle of view) are compared shooting at the same f stop, the larger lens will have smaller depth of field, because of the larger physical diameter of the aperture at the given f-stop (difraction/circle of confusion).
Another parfait! video! I appreciate your careful and succinct approach to teaching and explaining photography, it’s among the very best I’ve seen. And on top of that, your wildlife photo’s with elements of action are awesome!!!
