If you are new then I would like to give you a big warm welcome! This is my monthly photography challenge, The Elements of Photography. Each month I will give you a new topic to shoot surrounding one of the elements of composition and give a short tutorial and examples on how to incorporate it into your photos. My aim with this project to to teach others about the elements that go into the composition of a photo, and offer a platform to practice. Whether you are new to photography or a seasoned pro, I welcome photographers of all skill levels to join in! I have partnered with  for these projects if you would also like to check them out!

At the end of the month I will pick 3 photos I think have really embraced the topic, as well as feature every piece that is submitted!

A few rules before we start

- All submitted photos must be new and taken for this challenge

- For this month I will take a maximum of 2 photos per person

- Submitted photos need to follow the theme of the month

- You may shoot any subject that is non mature material

-All entered photos need to link back to this journal in their photo description

To submit your photo to this challenge leave a comment with a link to the one you want to use in this journal. The last day I will accept submissions is April 26th!

After a long wait, this months topic will be

Depth Of Field

I was originally going to go with this topic after light, but oh well we are doing it now! Along with light this element is huge within the compositions of your photos. Depth of field, also known as aperture, f-stop, and the f/2,4,6, etc, on your camera selects how much of your photo is in focus. The range of aperture can go from f/1.8 all the way to f40 or even higher. Choosing the right aperture for your vision is crucial in getting the results you want.

We will start with how aperture effects the lighting within our photos because aperture is part of the exposure triangle. In November we learned that a high shutter speed results in sharp stop motion captures and works the best with lots of light, and that a low shutter will blur moving subjects and will let in more light as the sensor is exposed longer. Aperture works fairly similar. The smaller your aperture number is, the more wide open your aperture rings are open. This will let in lots of light and is great for low light situations. In turn, the higher your aperture number the smaller your aperture rings will be open and lets in a very small amount of light. This is best for still shots and situations with lots of light.

Now that we know how aperture effects our lighting, lets get into the fun stuff. If you have ever seen a photo of a person or flower and only they are in focus, with a creamy blurred out background, that is aperture at work. Not only will a wide open aperture (low number) let in lots of light, but it will make your focus more selective so the foreground and background are blurred out. This kind of technique is great for portraits when you have a very messy and distracting background or for letting a subject stand on its own. I use this technique with my reptile and flower close ups.

Here are a few examples of a wide open (low number) aperture

Notice with the photo on the left how the man is nice ans sharp and while you can tell there is a waterfall behind him, it is blurred out and out of focus. Same with the photo of the dogs in the middle. The subjects stand out well and while the background is complimentary but not stealing focus. I chose the photo on the right for a more extreme example of how a low aperture works with only a small portion of your subject in focus.

While I feel having a wide open aperture is an easier technique to learn, having a smaller aperture can be a bit tricky. When you have a smaller aperture (higher number) this means that you are getting less light, but in turn you can get your whole range of the photo in focus. I will always recommend using a tripod no matter the light situation for these photos as even the slightest shake of your hands can make your whole photo blurry. Side tip, don't forget to always turn your IS (Image stabilization) OFF when using a tripod. Only certain lenses will have this, it will be a switch on the side of your lens. There is another element to closed aperture shooting, and that is the dreaded diffraction. Diffraction comes into play the higher of an aperture you have and will degrade the sharpness of your photos. This is an act of physics, which I'm not great at explaining, but what this means is because the aperture opening is so small, light bends around after entering it. Most lenses will have different peak sharpness aperture openings so if you want to find yours, set up a tripod and shoot at different apertures at the same subject at the same distance. Sometimes that peak sharpness is f/9 or f/18. You will see the focus become blurry and less defined the higher of an opening you go after peak sharpness.

To get back on topic though, here are some examples of a high aperture to get the whole photo within focus.

In the top left photo, you can see the road is sharp throughout the front of the photo to the back. The the middle photo the city buildings are nice and sharp and show detail throughout the whole photo. In the photo to the top right you can see not only is the person in focus but it was a great use of closed aperture to get the waterfall in focus as well.

If you want to try a wide open aperture to get a nice DOF, I suggest trying to shoot people, animals, plants, or objects. If you want to shoot with a smaller opening to get more focus in, try shooting some landscapes or city life. Remember that there is no "wrong" way to shoot a subject, just different techniques to create your vision! I hope you enjoyed this months short tutorial and I look forward to seeing your photos!

Here are a few more images to help you get inspired

Remember to submit a photo to this challenge, leave a comment to this journal with a link to your photos!

You have until April 26th!