Assignment 2 - Depth of Field and Aperture

Part 1 - Three Glass Bears

Reflection

In the task of learning about depth of field and aperture, bears of all sorts came into play (out to play?). The study of three glass bears was the first attempt to try and capture the process of what cinema calls “rack focus” (the cinematographer shifts his/her/their focus between a group of items or people in a row, without moving the camera, to, well, take the audience’s focus between points of increasing relevance to the story). The first attempt used a lens which had a minimum f-stop of 5.6, which didn’t exactly provide much, if any, difference in focus. It was time to switch a different lens, this one with a f-stop beginning at 2.8, then f/8, followed by f/16.  There was a greater degree of emphasis between bears between shots. I lit the shot from the left-hand side of the frame to try and emphasize the details of the bears.  After looking at some of the shots in extreme close-up, I could detect some level of color reflection from one bear to another. The shot of all bears at f/16 was not very interesting, since all of them were in clear focus. Meanwhile, at f/2.8, which was my preferred picture, only one bear was in clear focus at a time, which draws the eye to that bear. My favorite from this series is the one with the middle bear in focus since the way the shadows fell across him made him look “grumpy.”

Part 2 - Lazy Bear

Reflection

The second series was of one of my daughter’s childhood companions. He lounges comfortably in a chair, tranquil as can be, in a relaxing room filled with foliage and art. Approximately 6 feet behind him on the left is a plant in a big black urn. Approximately 20 feet behind the plant, is a painting of an abstract pastoral scene and a window through which the exterior of the building is visible. In the f/16 version, the bear, plant, and painting and building exterior are in focus. In the f/8 version, the plant is in focus but the painting and outside of the building are blurred. In the f/2.8 version, the plant is slightly out of focus while the picture and building exterior are out of focus. I prefer the f/2.8 version since it brings the viewer’s the attention to the bear, making him the clear subject of the photo.

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