We get these incredible cameras that are mini computers and can do amazing things but most of us end up setting it to Auto and go around shooting. We don't give much thought to how to anything because the manuals are so big and the fonts are so small. It's all so overwhelming. We need to go to photography classes to learn about our cameras.
One of the most important things in photography is to control sharpness in the image. Sharpness or lack of, like those great portraits where the backgrounds is blurred and the colors look deliciously soft. Well, it is sharpness that will emphasize your subject. When part of an image is soft focus the sharp area will receive the attention. If everything is sharp in your photograph then your subject will have an equal value, an equal amount of attention and hopefully color will emphasize the important part.
In architectural photography, sharpness is important and the parallel lines and perspective lines will lead you to the important part of the image.
In landscape photography sharpness can make the images look more playful, colorful or very intense. In photography we call the amount of sharpness in a photograph the depth of field. Landscape photography will be interesting with a sharp depth of field or a shallow depth of field.
Depth of field is controlled by the lens opening; and it's called the aperture. The aperture has different sizes and the wider the opening, the less sharpness you will have. When you want that beautiful portrait with a soft background set your lens to f-stop of 1.4, 2 or 2.8.
Make sure your subject is at least 4 feet away from the background. You can be close to the subject or not, that distance will not matter. Focus on the subject and shoot. The background will look surreal and soft and the main subject will be sharp.
A sharp depth of field is obtained by using an F-stop of 11, 16, 22 or smaller. Remember that depth of field is about the opening of the aperture: the smaller the opening the more things will be sharp.
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