Monthly Theme - Depth of Field (March 2021)

What a treat?! Yet again, despite being the shortest month of the year, February has delivered a bumper crop of amazing entries for the “Black and White” theme.

The 365 community really is something special! Thank you to everyone who took part and worked on their Flash of Red project at the same time. We loved looking through your entries and choosing some finalists. Scroll down to view our six finalists and vote for a winner! (You can also check out all of February's entries here.)

But first, we'd like to introduce our March theme...."Depth of Field"

With so many talented photographers in the 365 community, we're always spotting beautiful images that use depth of field to elevate their image to a higher level. It's no wonder we always enjoy reviewing entries for this theme!

Learning how to set up a shot and utilize depth of field is one of the most desirable photography skills to master! From taking stunning portrait shots, to working with depth to drawing attention to a specific topic in the frame, depth of field is a priceless tool to have in your kit!

Last year we reminded you of typical ways to increase or shorten your depth of field:

To decrease depth of field, for a "shallow" look, try:

• Widening your aperture (use a smaller f-number)


• Moving closer to the subject


• Creating more distance between the subject and the background features


• Lengthening your focal length.

To increase depth of field, for a "deeper" look, simply try the opposite:

• Narrowing your aperture (larger f-number)


• Moving farther from the subject


• Reducing the distance between the subject and the background


• Shortening focal length.

While some of you will know these rules inside out, some might find our blog post about aperture a useful read!

Whatever your level of experience, we've recycled a few ideas from last years Depth of Field theme to inspire your photography throughout March:-

1. Use Shallow Depth of Field for Portraits

Play with getting that emotion-packed portrait by controlling your depth. By getting closer to your subject and making sure they're not too close to something in the background, you'll find it easier to create that blurry-background look which makes a person pop. Using the rule of thirds to create a pleasing composition usually works well, but isn't essential!

Whether you're shooting on a smartphone, or SLR, the tips above are pretty universal. Take this a step further by researching how to choose the ideal lens and adjust your focal length as well as your aperture.

Another #TopTip: Focus on the eyes, to really create an engaging photograph for your audience!

We especially love this fun shot by @lynne5477, who's captured a precious moment of her great granddaughter.

2. Use Deep Depth of Field for Landscapes

Remember that broadly speaking, depth of field refers to the zone of acceptable sharpness within a photo that will appear in focus. Therefore, in contrast to wanting to make a portrait pop, when capturing a vast landscape we want a sharp focus across the whole scene!

Typically higher aperture settings will serve you best. If you have a gorgeous landscape and want to capture movement you can also pack your tripod and play with your shutter speed for a long exposure.

This stunning shot by @moonmtn is postcard perfect!

3. Play with Bokeh (boh-ke)

While bokeh is the Japanese translation for 'blur', shallow depth of field refers to the part of the image that is acceptably sharp, whereas bokeh refers to the quality of the background and foreground blur, whether it is smooth or harsh.

We most commonly associate bokeh photography with that softened effect on twinkling lights, as shown in @mona65's photo below.

While your lens will play a role in the outcome, you can follow similar steps for our first tip, to achieve a shallow depth of field, as well as making sure there are some small light sources in the background. This is a great place to start when it comes to playing with bokeh!

4. Try the Unexpected - Highlight Something at the Back of the Shot!

Once you get the hang of how to focus on various depths of field you can have fun choosing where to direct people's gaze! Whether it's a detailed macro shot or in a crowd (post-Covid!).

This simple yet effective shot by @kipper1951 is a great 'egg'xample (sorry - couldn't resist!)

5. Make Macros Pop with Shallow Depth of Field

Using the same tips as what we've suggested for portraits, you can also get some great macro shots that really make a subject stand out!

We love this incredible shot by @lucycameron!

6. Play with Depth to Tell a Story

Using a shallow depth of field doesn't always have to be about making the subject in the foreground the only thing in the spotlight! There's a lot of fun to be had in making sure the foreground and background tell parts of the story. By using shallow depth of field to catch someone's immediate attention, you can draw people into an equally important subject in the background.

@Weezilou's photo is a lovely example of this!

7. Have Fun with Composition for a Great POV (Point of View) Shot!

Similar to the tip above, by using shallow depth of field to catch someone's immediate attention by the features closest to you, creating a fun Point of View perspective that allows people to follow the composition to get the full story.

We love this playful photograph by @amy_sweet_september!

It's not the easiest skill to learn (or explain in one blog post), so if you're still scratching your head about how different settings can be used to achieve different effects, this post at Digital Photography School is a great guide for beginners.

But, wherever you're at, we hope you have fun playing with a few ideas and trying something new. We can't wait to see your entries!

How to enter this month’s theme

When uploading your photos use the tag section (on the edit/organise screen) and insert this week's theme tag: theme-depthoffield (all one word).

Entry Guidelines: Photos must be your own and must have been taken and uploaded between Monday March 1st and Wednesday March 31st. 6 finalists will be chosen in the first couple days of April, then you'll get to vote for the winner!

p.s. Don't worry if you spot tagged photos from a previous theme, when choosing our six finalists we'll use a special algorithm to only filter the images from March 2021.

Vote for a Winner of February's "Black & White" Theme

We had such a great time reviewing hundreds of photos you submitted for the “Black & White” theme. Especially as so many of you have been working on Flash of Red projects too!

With so many amazing entries it took us a while to choose just 6 finalists, but now it's over to you to vote for the winner of the “Black & White” theme. To cast your vote, simply reply to this blog post with the number (in digit form) of the photo you would like to see win, before March 14th. We’ll announce the winner in a separate post shortly after!