Camera Glossary

The distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in acceptably sharp focus in an image.

Detailed Explanation

Depth of Field (DOF) is the zone of acceptable sharpness in front of and behind the subject you're focusing on. It's controlled primarily by your aperture setting - a wider aperture (smaller f-number) creates a shallow DOF with a blurry background, while a smaller aperture (larger f-number) creates a deeper DOF with more of the scene in focus. DOF is also affected by focal length and distance to subject. This creative tool is particularly important in portrait photography for subject isolation and in landscape photography for maximum scene detail.