Nikon Camera F3AF - Manual (Page 54)

EXPOSURE —Continued-
Depth of Field
When you shoot at a certain aperture and focusing distance,
you wiii find that not only the main subject but objects in a cer­
tain distance range in front of and behind it will be sharp in the
final photograph. Objects beyond this range become increas­
ingly out of focus. This "in-focus zone” is known as depth of
field. When this zone of sharpness is large, the depth of field is
said to be deep; when it is small, the depth of field is said to
be shallow.
The following is true of depth of field:
1) The smaller the shooting aperture (i.e. the larger the numeri­
cal f-number), the deeper the depth of field; the larger the
aperture, the shallower the depth of field.
2) The farther away the subject is from the lens, the deeper the
depth of field becomes; the closer to the lens, the shallower
the depth of field.
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