Depth of Field Analysis

Photographer: Diane Arbus

This is an example of a short depth of field. Characteristically the blurred background, keeping the subjects sharp in focus. I see this as a strong and good use of shallow depth of field. It separates the subject from the background, drawing our attention to them and how they are contributing to the scene. We can still make out the background, giving us context, but not distracting us from the main point of focus.

Photographer: Walker Evans

This is an example of using a long depth of field. We can see this as both the subjects in the foreground and the background are in focus. This is effective to me because it gives us context on what the couple (the subjects) is looking at. I can imagine this photo using a shallow depth of field. I think it would also have been a good photo, but the lack of context would have led to a less complete and less compelling story.