What is depth-of-field?

Depth-of-field is an important subject to understand and learn in the photography world. The Depth-of-field you set, decides what areas of your picture are sharp and which areas are blurred. You might have seen some pictures where the foreground is sharp and the background is blur. Or where the background is sharp and foreground is blur. Or where foreground as well as background both are sharp and clear. All this is the result of depth-of-field. The depth of field can range from narrow to an infinite. In case of infinite depth of field, everything in picture is in focus. Everything here is clear and sharp. Whereas in a narrow depth of field only the subject in focus is clear and sharp rest of the things in picture are blur and unclear.

Depth of field refers to the range of distance that appears acceptably sharp. A wide aperture is used when the depth of field is shallow and a narrow aperture is used when the depth-of-field is fully exposed. A wider depth-of-field means that nearly everything in the scene is always in focus. So, if you want to capture your subject with a blurred background move a little close to your main subject or zoom. For a wider depth of field set your aperture to somewhere between f16 and f22. And for a narrow depth of field set it to a smaller number. Using a combination of lens and aperture you can control the depth of field, as to what elements in your picture would be sharp & clear and what all elements will have a blur effect. When you completely understand what depth-of-field is and master the skill of depth of field control, you are open to an array of options. It then entirely depends on you to what to show and what to hide in the shot you click.