THE SOLUTION
Producing a strong singular-theme composition is as simple as choosing the right lens, selecting the right aperture, and focusing on the right part of the composition. Since telephoto lenses have a narrow angle of view and inherently shallow depth of field, they are often the lens of choice for singular-theme compositions. When you use a large aperture (f/2.8, f/4, or f/5.6) with a telephoto lens, you get an especially shallow depth of field.
The key is to understand your limited depth of field. Unlike the storytelling compositions shown here, singular-theme compositions don’t have an area of sharp focus that extends from a few feet to infinity. The larger your aperture (smaller f-stop number), the narrower your depth of field. In a singular-theme composition taken with a large aperture on a telephoto lens, your entire span of sharp focus can be as small as a few inches, though in most cases it will be a few feet deep. The trick is placing this area of sharp focus exactly where you want it. To do this, adjust your focus back and forth until you’ve placed the depth of field in the ideal location. As you twist your focus ring, areas of your frame will alternately go blurry and sharp. When that area of sharp focus lands on your intended spot, you’re ready to click the shutter.
As you become more aware of your lens’s ability to emphasize a subject’s importance through selective focus, start seeking out backgrounds of color blocks, like a wall of graffiti, that when rendered out of focus will further emphasize the in-focus subject. As a general rule, when shooting a simple portrait against a background such as a colorful wall of graffiti, I bring my in-focus subject at least 20 feet away from the wall when using a 200mm focal length and at least 15 feet away when using a 300mm focal length. At this distance, the background quickly becomes muted and out of focus when shot at apertures of f/2.8 to f/5.6. It’s also important to note that both your focused subject and the background need to be under the same lighting conditions (overcast, frontlight, sidelight, and so on) to capture both under the same exposure value.
TIP: CLEANING UP THE BACKGROUND
Selective focus can also be useful when you want to blur out distracting background elements for a cleaner overall composition. Let’s say you’re making a portrait of your daughter, but you’re faced with less-than-ideal background elements. Don’t let this stop you! Affix your telephoto lens, open up your aperture, focus precisely on your daughter, and let everything else go blurry. Colors and objects will blend into one another, much like a painted backdrop, giving you an attractive, clean canvas for your portrait.
Selective focus keeps the emphasis on your subject
rather than on the background.
70–300mm lens, f/6.3 for 1/500
sec.
Let’s look at these two portraits of Sharon, a young woman I photographed in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Both of these exposures are quantitatively correct, yet there is a clear visual difference in the background. In the first example, note the distracting wires behind Sharon’s right shoulder. In the second example, the wires have magically disappeared. Did I clone them out with the aid of Photoshop? Of course not! I simply used a different combination of aperture and shutter speed that resulted in a vastly reduced depth of field. I shot the first photo at f/16 for 1/60 sec. and the second at f/4 for 1/1000 sec. Both exposures are the same in terms of their quantitative value but vastly different, as we can clearly see, in their visual weight.
An aperture of f/16 left a distracting
background.
70–300mm lens, f/16 for 1/60
sec.
At f/4, the blurred background keeps the focus on the
subject.
70–300mm lens, f/4 for 1/1000
sec.
I once heard that if you pour beer instead of water into the base of a hollyhock flower, it will grow an additional 12 inches overnight. I have never tried this, but judging by the height of this particular hollyhock, found in a small village in France, it must have received an entire six-pack the night before! Fortunately for me, this 12-foot high hollyhock was growing right next to a small flight of stairs. I climbed almost to the top of the plant and used my Nikkor 24–85mm lens to frame it against a house in the background. To isolate the flower, I combined a close-focus point of view with a large lens opening.
24–85mm lens, f/4 for 1/500 sec.