Assignment #3: Selective Depth of Field

With finals coming to a close Im excited to post

some of my students' best-of's from every

assignment this last semester. Ive been collecting

them and am so excited to share them with all of

you. And Im so glad that they are all letting me.

::I Love Teaching::

These photos are from assignment 3 (1 & 2 just

being their first contact sheet and print) here

they were asked to demonstrate their ability to

create the effect of selective depth of field (where

only one focal plane is in focus while all the others

blur around it). I tell them to not think of the scene

they are looking at through the lens as a 2 dimensional

print just yet, but to see it as a diorama with multiple

levels (foreground, mid, and background) and you limit

how many levels you get in focus by your aperture size/

number and you chose which levels you want by your

focus. This is one lesson that contains one of those

counter-intuitive concepts (there are many in photography)

smaller the number(f/4.0 vs. f/22) =bigger size opening in

the lens=more blur (selective depth of field).

This class is entry level and is fully black & white

darkroom (shooting w/completely manual settings,

developing our own negs, and printing all prints)

Some students have experience with photography

and many do not have any, there is quite a bit of range in

all their majors but that is what I love about this medium,

how broad of an audience it appeals to. Photography is the

melding of science, technology, and art.

Celeste A.

Dana M.

Loni B.

::aren't they lovely?::