Depth of field is an optical effect you can control with your choice of lens, focus distance and lens aperture. You can recreate the appearance of shallow depth of field digitally, but only up to a point, because the optical effect is created by the different distances of objects in 3D space, while the digital version is being applied to a two-dimension representation with no depth information at all.
So what depth of field effects rely on is the right kind of subject and some skill on the part of the photographer. You can blur a background effectively enough to give the impression and feel of shallow depth of field, but any experienced photographer will see straight away that it’s been done digitally.
But never mind, because very often the ‘feel’ and ‘impression’ of a picture is much more important than sheer technical accuracy. Digitally recreated depth of field can still transform a picture into beautiful image, even if it isn’t ‘right’.
The so-called ‘miniature’ or ‘tilt shift’ effect can be very convincing. It makes everyday scenes look like tiny models. You can apply it with lots of different programs and apps, and many cameras now have a ‘miniature’ effect built in. … Continue reading Create a tiny scene with this miniature effect
MacPhun Focus 2 Pro does the same job as a number of other digital ‘bokeh’ filters. It lets you selectively defocus parts of the image to create a shallow depth of field effect. This can work well with portraits, where … Continue reading Boost your Bokeh with MacPhun Focus 2 Pro
It’s easy to get shallow depth of field with a camera. You just need a camera with a large sensor, and a lens with a large maximum aperture and the laws of physics do the rest. But adding depth of … Continue reading 3 ways to add digital depth of field with the Perfect Effects 8 Lens Blur filter
Focal Point 2 is available both on its own and as part of OnOne’s Perfect Photo Suite, a collection of image effects and tools which can be used as a Photoshop/Lightroom/Aperture plug-in, but also works as a standalone application. You … Continue reading How to create depth of field effects with Focal Point 2
