Assessment 1: Activity 5 - Effect of Focal Length & Aperture on Depth of Field

This experiment aimed to discover the effect focal length and aperture have on the depth of field in an image. 

The following photos were taken roughly 2 metres from subject (the blue cruiser), on a tripod with the background over 10 metres away.

IMAGE 1: 50mm, ISO 100, f/4, 1/100

IMAGE 2: 50mm, ISO 400, f/8, 1/80

IMAGE 3: 50mm, ISO 800, f/16, 1/50

IMAGE 4: 28mm, ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/80

IMAGE 5: 28mm, ISO 200, F/8, 1/40

IMAGE 6: 28mm, ISO 400, f/16, 1/40

IMAGE 7: 85mm, ISO 200, f/4, 1/125

IMAGE 8: 85mm, ISO 800, f/8, 1/125

IMAGE 9:  85mm, ISO 800, f/16, 1/30

Findings:
The above photos have shown that as the aperture decreased (higher f stop number), the depth of field became larger. More of the background was in focus and there was less emphasis on the subject. With the larger aperture of f/4, the background produced a soft and blurry effect which trained focus to the subject. 

The varying focal lengths also had a large impact on the image. The 50mm fixed lens was cropped in to a medium amount. There was not a wide expanse to either side of the subject. The 28mm lens showed a wide expanse to the sides of the subject and looked oddly distorted and out of proportion. And the 85mm telephoto lens cropped the image in very close, leaving very little in the background and focusing solely on the subject.