Help! Canon T3i Manual Focus for DOF
- Thread starter Brandon
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DOF is determined by aperture, focal length of lens, and distance to focal plane. In short, large aperture = shallow DOF.
Typical lens of choice for this look is the Canon 50mm f1.4. If you're shooting outside you'll likely need an ND filter to keep your exposure in check with a 1/50 shutter speed when shooting 24fps. My personal choice is the Takumar 55mm 1:1.8.
Typical lens of choice for this look is the Canon 50mm f1.4. If you're shooting outside you'll likely need an ND filter to keep your exposure in check with a 1/50 shutter speed when shooting 24fps. My personal choice is the Takumar 55mm 1:1.8.
Yep, easy answer is crank the lens wide open, though most look a little better at about 4. As noted, if it's outside you'll need ND filters.
Also, the more telephoto the lens the more shallow the DOF. All the same settings at 18mm won't be as shallow as 85mm, etc.
Plus subject distance to the background. Play with it and see what happens.
All true.
Generally shallower the longer the lens, and accentuated by more distance to the background.
Generally shallower the longer the lens, and accentuated by more distance to the background.
I don't want to sound like an asshole, but please, PLEASE, read a book/tutorial/article/really expensive toilet paper on basic photography.
I love that everyone has access to a nice camera, but I hate it when said people just grab it out of the box and goes on an AUTO shooting rampage.
I love that everyone has access to a nice camera, but I hate it when said people just grab it out of the box and goes on an AUTO shooting rampage.
Here's the thing. There is a reason why DPs are directors of PHOTOGRAPHY. Understanding the relationship between aperture and DOF is a very basic photography principle as are things like exposure, composition, and movement. Rather than chasing a particular look or "effect", learn the principles of photography. After all, these are moving pictures. The shallow DOF look is not always the right choice for the shot, and IMHO, has been too exagerated lately just because the camera CAN do it. By learning the basics of photography, you'll be able to plan your shots better, and almost instictively know what to do to create a paricular look.
And please, please, please, do not crank up the shutter speed to adjust for too much light. A set of NP filters is a must have when shooting wide apertures in bight light conditions.
And please, please, please, do not crank up the shutter speed to adjust for too much light. A set of NP filters is a must have when shooting wide apertures in bight light conditions.
I'm trying not to go on an auto rampage, that's why I'm here asking
Everyone, thank you for your help, it's greatly appreciated.
+1, not directly at u OP but just want to reiterate the importance of this for anyone else in the learning stages.
Adjusting the distances from camera to subject and subject to background is a huge thing too... it's been mentioned in passing earlier here, but by combining the distances and the aperture + ND techniques, you'll end up with TONS of control over your DOF, both shallow and long.
The camera in closeups on hollywood sets is generally quite near the actors on a 35mm camera... watch the BTS for "Signs" by Shaymalamaman, closeups at the table, the matte box is about 2 - 3 feet from the actor's face.
The camera in closeups on hollywood sets is generally quite near the actors on a 35mm camera... watch the BTS for "Signs" by Shaymalamaman, closeups at the table, the matte box is about 2 - 3 feet from the actor's face.
Basically, they're sunglasses for your camera. When shooting video with DSLR's we keep the shutter speed at 1/50 or 1/60 to be close to a 180 shutter. We can not change that along with shooting at 24fps if we want to imitate the film look.
So now imagine you're filming outside during the daytime. Your shutter is at 1/60, you're ISO at 100 and you want to set your lens to 1.2 for a shallow dof. Everything is going to get overexposed and blow out. To counteract this, you can use the appropriate ND filter to reduce the amount of light coming in and properly expose your scene without compromising the settings you want.
Oh, that makes sense. Now what if I want deep dof, because personally, I'm not a fan of shallow dof. I prefer everything in focus unless it requires shallow dof.
No ND filter needed. Just use a smaller aperture like f11. Also, wide angle lenses will give you a larger dof than tele lenses.
If you are talking lighting wise, in case you specifically want to use something like f11 and there is not enough light for proper exposure (even though you've raised your ISO to say 800 and dont want to go above that for fear of dig noise), use actual lights. That's actually something that should almost always be there anyway but learning how to light is another thing. Here we're just talking about how to expose the way one wants using shutter, iso, aperture and nd filters.
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You're welcome
I would suggest reading up on the relationship between shutter, iso, aperture.
And learning some basic lighting techniques.
Yeah, I generally shoot closeups with a 135mm at the minimum focal distance from the talent, which on my lens is about 3 to 4 feet. With that lens at that distance a face fills most of the frame.