Isolate the subject with shallow depth of field

Early Winter

Do you ever need to de-emphasize a busy background? I know on occasion I do. In portraiture this is an everyday situation, but a technique that is not used as frequently in landscape photography. However, it is very valuable to understand at times.

This particular scene, if shot on auto or with a point and shoot camera would be so busy that we really would not be able to tell what the main subject is. By utilizing a wide aperture (f4 in this case) the background becomes very soft, just a nice texture that visually disappears. The main subject, remaining sharp, stands out. It creates three dimensional depth. To take control in these situations, you must understand the relationship between aperture (f-stops) and shutter speeds. As you open up the aperture, the shutter speed must decrease proportionally. By doing this, your exposure remains constant and the depth of field becomes shallow, thus creating the desired effect. Most of the time in landscape photography, we are wanting just the opposite effect, small aperture and long shutter speed, giving you a much greater depth of field.