Abating Storm

Last night we suffered another few hours of very high wind although not as bad as in the North West. Still the gale howled through our birch trees all night and only began to abate after breakfast time. So away we went down to the coast for a walk. I had the tripod in the back of the car where it lives and decided to do without a lens opting instead for my pinhole body cap. I am not especially happy with the way it performs on the Canon Digital although it's fine with film. Lots of experimentation looms.

To round off the few days discussion re depth of field, there are just a couple of further points which I feel I should mention before closing .

First, the one third, two thirds rule which was mentioned by one of you the other day. This dictates that when considering the depth of field as it will appear in your photo you should be aware that in round terms the zone of acceptable focus will extend approximately one third in front of your focused subject and two thirds behind it. If you have a dof preview button on your camera you will see this on the focusing screen of course even though the screen will be darker and darker as the f stop decreases.

Second. It is important to ask the question, "Just what is sharpness anyway?" All the criteria discussed so far have been objective, that is, they alter the dof mechanically/optically independent of the viewer. There is however a second measurement of dof which is purely subjective. What might be perfectly acceptable in your estimation may not be so in mine, it's subjective. This cannot be measured nor any hard and fast rules laid down about it. It is individual to you.

Finally, many thanks to all of you who have commented to the effect that you have been helped by this discussion. Never stop learning and never be afraid to ask the stupid question. The stupid question doesn't exist. You ask it, you learn from the answer. How can you call that, stupid?