NZPhotographer Issue 55, May 2022

get both the reflection and the background in focus. Joe
has chosen just to have what is within the mirror in focus
which is appropriate because the background is foliage.
Friedlander kept everything in focus.
To achieve a shot like this, you need to look at focal
length and aperture. A large aperture (low f stop
number) will generally mean a shallow depth of field
where the subject is in focus, and the background is
blurred. A deep depth of field means everything is in
focus, and usually, that means a high f stop number.
Joe’s image is on the shallower end which also means
he was quite close to his subject.
Using the world around you is a great way to frame
your subject. Look through your lens and move it
around to see if you can frame your subject with tree
branches, foliage, buildings, or even fence posts, as
Andie has done in the image below. Looking out at a
subject through a window or door is also a natural way
to frame something, and if you can get the foreground
and background in focus like Yasuhiro Ishimoto does in
his Katsura Villa portfolio, you add an extra dimension
to the image with an image full of depth and layers.
Andie’s image sits near the shallow end when it comes
to depth of field. If she had shot this on a higher f stop
number and increased the ISO, she would have had
more of the fence in focus, but this was not what she
wanted to achieve, so she shot with a wider aperture
and sought to frame her subject by the foliage. It also
comes down to your lens. If you are shooting with a
landscape lens like the Nikon or Canon lenses that
have a 10-20mm focal length, you will usually have
a short focal length and deeper depth of field versus
a telephoto lens like the Tamron 150-600mm, which
will allow you greater distance but shallower depth
of field. If you think about the wildlife photographers
you have seen out and about, they are often hefting
enormous telephoto lenses. In contrast, a landscape
photographer often sports a sturdy tripod and a shorter,
fatter lens. Andie did not have a landscape lens and
may have found it difficult without one to get all of
this image in sharp focus just by adjusting her settings.
That being said, I like the blur and the leading lines the
fences and path provide to her subject. The foliage
provides a lovely vignette-style frame too.
Lastly, let’s look at an image I shot last year for the
Kāpiti College show Chicago. The performers were at
the back of a deep stage on scaffolding, and I was
right at the back of the theatre. I was shooting with my
favourite lens, the Nikkor 70-300mm, on my Nikon D850.
I needed a wider angle lens at the time but didn’t have
one with me, so I decided to use the shadow to frame
Adventures by Andie Hughes
NZPhotographer
May 2022
39