Featherstone Quiltworks

I have long observed that when you’re using zoom, objects in the background can look much closer to your subject than they really are.  A couple of months ago, my DH Jim was reading in the sun room.  He looked so comfy and natural, I didn’t wanted to disturb him while taking a picture.  I used quite a bit of zoom and basically took the picture of him from two rooms away.  I was surprised — no, shocked – when I got the photo on my computer, because I know we don’t have a neighbor that close in the back!  It looks like I could just run over and borrow a cup of sugar fat quarter, doesn’t it?

Take a look at a picture of the same house taken out of the same window but I’m standing close to the window and didn’t use any zoom (the house shown in the picture above is outlined here in red):

Weird, huh?  Well, when I took the picture of Jim, the camera zoomed everything in, including what was in the background, and made it appear that there is less distance between the subject and the background than there really was; things look compressed.

Why would you do this on purpose?  One reason would be if you’re on vacation taking a photo of your family in front of a landmark or something of interest.  If you back up from the people and then zoom in on them, still including the landmark in the background, what’s in the background is going to look larger and more prominent and make for a more interesting picture (rather than standing close to the people and including the background behind them).

Another reason would be fairly similar to the picture I took of Jim.  Let’s say it’s a cluttery background that we want to minimize (like my sewing room!), and we don’t want to have the background detract attention away from the subject of the photo.  You would do the same thing I did:  back away from the subject and use your zoom.   Because it’s “enlarged”, there will be fewer items appearing in your background, and it will be less distracting.

And remember, for the best quality photos, only use your optical zoom.  Your picture quality will degrade once you get into the digital zoom range.   (I do occasionally use my digital zoom, but I do lose quality when I do.)

“Depth of field” is a term used to describe the how much of the photo is in focus, depthwise.  Zoom can affect your depth of field, as shown in a lot of my bird photos.  Here I was using quite a bit of zoom and had my focus directly on the Cedar Waxwing.  That accounts for the soft focus of the branches at different distances than the bird, as well as our neighbor’s house.

Compare it with this photo taken out the same window this spring, but no zoom involved.  Much more of the picture is in focus — greater “depth of field”:

Don’t wait until a big occasion to try some of these techniques.  Practice and play around with it.  Then when the need arises, you will have a better idea of what you’re going to get, because it can be difficult to see just what’s in focus on your display.

Also, depending upon the amount of zoom your camera has and how much of it you are using, you will have more or less of the compression effect or change in depth of field.  Just play and have some fun!

Also, feel free to upload pictures to the PhotoFridays album on Flickr.

My usual disclaimer:  I am a layperson when it comes to cameras and photography.  I just happen to like taking pictures and trying to figure out how to take better pictures and to understand my camera better.  Hope this has been of interest to you!

–Sue