When photographing flat art on a wall, as in this 12th century stone relief from Bayon Temple in Angkor Thom, Cambodia, you will increase depth of field if the back of the camera, i.e. the digital sensor, is as parallel as possible with the plane of the subject. In other words, if the plane of the sensor and the plane of the wall are exactly parallel, you can use any lens aperture -- even f/1.8 -- and the subject will be sharp from edge to edge. As the back of the camera become more oblique to the wall (for example, if you are shooting upward), depth of field decreases and you will need a smaller lens aperture to regain that lost DOF. This is particular true for telephoto lenses because they inherently have less depth of field than wide angles. If you are shooting up at an angle and the back of the camera is decidedly oblique to the wall, then it's best to use a tripod so you can close the aperture down to at least f/16.
0 Comments