Shallow waters

Alistair Campbell heads to Lee Bay to play with shallow depth-of-field effects

Whenever I’m trying to create a shot that has a dynamic aesthetic, my default setting to use tends to be as shallow as my lens will allow. When I first picked up a camera, the only lens I had for a while was a 50mm f/1.4 – and it stayed at f/1.4 for a very long time.

I always just thought, “The shallower the better,” and it does make for an easy win to capture strong images. But using the same settings all the time can often leave you a little bored, and your own work can become predictable. We all have our preferred settings, of course, but the range of f-stops is there for a reason, and all of them are fair game to use in order to create the shot you want.

If I’ve got time, I’ll take one or two alternatives to my shallow shot: one at a mid-range focal length, and sometimes one stopped down to f/18. As always with photography, though, there is usually a compromise.

You may favour shooting wide open, but on a brighter day you may potentially have to stop down to f/4 if your ISO is already low and your shutter speed is at its fastest setting. You could consider using ND filters, of course, but that’s a story for another day. For now, just practise using the natural elements around you to create a shallow depth of field, and have fun shooting.