photography

I'm posting the first of what hopefully will be an ongoing category of tips on different subjects. This first one will cover a photography tip on how to use the aperture on a camera to creatively leverage depth-of-field in photographs.

Aperture and shutter speed control is Photo 101, which I unfortunately never took. How to use those basic principles to creatively to control depth of field is a new "discovery" for me and one of the most creative tools that photographers have.

Depth-of-field is, basically, the distance in front of and behind your subject that stays in focus. Let's say you're shooting a portrait of someone. Based on your decision, you can make the flowers in front of the person sharp and detailed or fuzzy. Same goes for the trees behind them.

So what does that do?

Sometimes it's easy to look around at design in everyday life and forget to notice one large facet. Man-made design - The products, advertisements, technology, STUFF - is constantly in our faces and we have become so attuned to marketing that we sometimes don't see past it.

I live in a major city and I certainly understand. But even amidst the steel, stone and glass of Chicago skyscrapers lies an intricate and complex architecture built with cellulose and water vapor. We just have to force ourselves to look up or down from time to time to notice.