For those of you who have a life, and don't read enormous amounts of photography literature and tutorials, depth of field is pretty easy to understand. It refers to the range of your subject that appears sharp. I say range, because there should be a clear focal point, and from that focal point, a gradual progression to a less sharp image. I won't bore you with aperture, and focus distance mumbo jumbo here, but it is really interesting! I encourage you to dive into your own little study. I'm far from truly understanding this concept entirely, but I found that once I played around and launched a little study of my own, I was literally seeing the world around me differently. I especially noticed it when I watched television. I started to notice that dramatic, emotionally charged scenes have shallow depth of fields. My guess is, to allow you to focus on the character's most dramatic feature- their face.
You'll see my sister's eyes are the most clear aspect of this photo. The farther "back" you allow your eyes to move, you'll notice an out of focus tree behind her, and farther, you really only see color. The green is obviously grass, but the blue is actually snow, although it looks like it might be a body of water. I like this photo. The only clear "story" it tells is the fierce look in her eyes.
I was intentionally trying to see if I could focus on that little curly twig. It was a bit challenging; high fives to me!
This is a more gradual transition, and admittedly, a more boring photo, but one that demonstrates my point.
I took this at Christmas, a couple weeks after I got my Nikon. This is the decorated chandelier in my parents' dining room. I'm slightly enamored with this photo. The depth of field is "off,"but it's interesting to me nonetheless!
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