Fun with Depth of Field

While trying out a new lens for my system (a 35mm f/1.4), I went out to take some photos of some hay bales I had seen before, close to an old and abandoned house. I waited for sunset to have some good light, and off I went.

I tried some compositions, including the one below, catching the Moon and bicycle.

House and Moon
House and Moon

Having such a fast lens available, I then thought about using it at extremes of aperture range, in this case, from f/16 to f/1.4. The results are shown below, in the following order: f/16, f/1.4 (maintaining focus on the bike), and f/1.4 (focusing on the house).

Resting #1
Resting #1

 

Resting #2
Resting #2

 

Resting #3
Resting #3

Normally, when shooting such subjects, I tend to favour  a deep depth-of-field, so that both the foreground and background are acceptably sharp. However, later on, when I looked at the images, my favourite of the series was #2, focused on the bike, and shot wide open at f/1.4. In my mind, the bicycle and hay bale are given more prominence, while the house is still there, identifiable. All bathed by the warm and golden light of the sunset.

Talking about sunset, this is what it looked like that day. Wonderful.

Sunset
Sunset

 

 

Milfontes – morning magic

 

I have written before about this small town located in SW Portugal, at the estuary of the river Mira. It is considered as the “pearl of Alentejo”, and is home to one of the most beautiful beaches in the country. Coming summer, it can be a bit congested, given the affluence of vacationers. But throughout the rest of the year, it is a haven of tranquillity and beauty.

In one of my recent visits, just a few weeks back, I planned to shoot the hay bales that dot the countryside during this time of the year. I had envisaged to use the bales as foreground interest, using the rising sun and the Cercal hills as backdrop. Of course, shooting the sunrise during the summer implies waking up at around 5am, but this is just one of the challenges of landscape photography!

I wanted to capture both wide angle and more telephoto field of views, so those were the lenses I carried with me: the Zeiss Loxia 21 f/2.8 and the Sony G 70-200 f/4. I prefer to have the flexibility of a zoom for my telephoto shots, as the light changes quickly, and “zooming with your feet” is not always practicable.

Shooting towards the East, I got lucky for the bonus of the mist and fog that were present along the river Mira course. This extra element provided some fantastic depth and feel to my photos, thus really paying off for the early rise!

Shooting from my tripod, I soon entered in the rhythm of composing, relaxing, taking my time, while at the same time enjoying the light play over the rural landscape.

In the end, I consider this session as a success, and fully recommend this location for landscape photographers; within a small area, there are several subjects of interest, either facing the sea, or inland.

Breaking light
Breaking light
Blue mist
Blue mist
Field and mist
Field and mist
Golden
Golden
Golden rise
Golden rise
A pair
A pair