Depth of Field

Shallow depth of field blurs the background while keeping the subject sharp, isolating it from distractions — a technique beloved by portrait and product photographers. Deep depth of field keeps everything sharp from foreground to infinity, preferred by landscape photographers. Depth of field is controlled by aperture, focal length, and subject distance. Wide apertures like f/1.4 create extremely shallow depth while narrow apertures like f/16 extend sharpness throughout the scene. AI-powered tools can now simulate shallow depth of field in post-processing by detecting subject boundaries and applying graduated blur to the background, achieving bokeh effects on images shot with narrow apertures or smartphone cameras.