Nick C asked:
Example, if you wanted to take a headshot of a person in focus and close up, but you wanted the beach and horizon behind them, all in focus. I see this in magazines, but I can’t do it with my Nikon d60 cause I don’t know what I’m doing. P.S. I dont have photoshop, so how do I do this without it?
Example, if you wanted to take a headshot of a person in focus and close up, but you wanted the beach and horizon behind them, all in focus. I see this in magazines, but I can’t do it with my Nikon d60 cause I don’t know what I’m doing. P.S. I dont have photoshop, so how do I do this without it?
My advice would be to take a picture of the person in front of a green screen, or if you don’t have that a bright- colored blanket. Then taken the picture of the beach and horizon and upload them both onto the computer.
If you don’t want to get photoshop, a freeware program such as Paint.net will work just as well for this.
Once you’ve downloaded the program, use the magic wand tool to get rid of the background on the person, and copy and paste them in a new layer over the beach.
You need a firm understanding of DOF and the three contributing factors. Check out the DOF tutorial located here…
Read up on some articles about aperture and shutter speed. These two will give you a great understanding on what it is you need to do, because if you adjust one, the other will need to be adjust as well. You could just shoot in aperture priority mode, but if you have time and are like me, manual is the preferred cup of tea.
Anyway. You’re going to want a small apreture (high Fnumber). If you’re using your kit lens or a varying aperture lens like the 55-200mm F4-5.6, you’re highest Fnumber will be 22 at the low end of the focal range and 32 or higher at the other end of the focal range. Anyway, the smaller aperture (higher fnumber) restricts the light that comes in, so unless it’s a very bright day, you’re going to need a longer shutter speed. This could potentially put a blur on your picture, either from the subject not being able to stand still or you hand holding shaking the camera/pressing the shutter release button. A tripod and remote will kill the 2nd problem.
Remember generally speaking, large aperture = minimum depth of field (aka shallow dof), and small aperture = maximum depth of field (aka deep dof). If you don’t know how to adjust these settings, check the manual, it’s pretty clear there. If you need some websites for decent information on photography 101s and 201s, email me I’ve got a bunch saved up and don’t mind sharing them.
You do it in camera when you take the shot. To get a lot in focus from near to far you need whats called a large ‘depth of field (DOF)’
Depth of field is controlled by 3 things;
- subject to camera distance – the further away from the camera the subject is, the greater DOF.
- focal length of the lens – a wide angle lens (i.e. less than say 20mm) has a greater DOF than a telephoto lens.
- aperture (f stop) – the smaller the aperture, the greater the depth of field so, f16 with give you greater DOF than f2.8 (don’t forget, the smaller the aperture, the larger the f number!).
So, to sum up – to get the greatest DOF, use a wide angle lens, a small aperture. Have your subject further away (if you can – if not, then the above two should give you sufficient DOF)
Since you didn’t tell us what lens you have then I’m guessing it must be the standard 18-55mm kit lens. What you have is a Depth of Field (DOF) problem which is easily solved.
For an in-depth explanation of DOF, go to
Here is how you do what you want to do.
18mm, f16, focused on subject 10′ away, DOF is from 2′-6 to infinity.
18mm, f16, focused on subject 5′ away, DOF is from 2′-0 to infinity.
24mm, f16, focused on subject 10′ away, DOF is from 3′-8 to infinity.
24mm, f16, focused on subject 5′ away, DOF is from 2′-9 to 30′-0.
I used the DOF Calculator at for the above examples. You can use any combination of focal length, f-stop and subject distance you want. If you’d like a DOF Calculator to carry with you just go to their web site at
I suggest using Manual Focus since your camera has no idea what you’re trying to do. Sooner or later you have to realize that cameras are just dumb boxes and you have to be the decision-maker and take control.
NOTE: All DOF examples are based on using your Nikon D60.
i narrow the aperture to at least f11. sometimes i go all the way to f22.
a wide aperture will give you the subject you focus on sharpness, all else is soft. a tight aperture will bring all else into focus more.