Why do you use DOF
lupus___f6b56869d6
Posts: 11
I never use DOF.
Maybe if I want to show something really, really important in a scene, I'll do it.
DOF is irl often about bad camera lenses.
I think a nice and well planned shot nevfer ever need DOF.
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Comments
In optics DoF is a product of physics - no matter how good the lens it isn't possible to have all distances in full focus. People use it in rnders to mimic reality.
The purpose of DOF in CGI is to simulate a real world camera.
No matter how good or bad a camera or lens is, there will always be DOF, this is just a natural occurance due to how optics work.
Our eyeballs do the same thing as well.
In daz studio, you may want to use DOF for either Subject separation, or to draw the viewers eyes to a particular detail, but also for hiding bad details, such as trash or flat textures, or if you're trying to achieve photo realism.
i'd suggest reading up on real world camera usage, and apply that to work in ds.
Deep Focus is a thing. It doesn't entirely eliminate DoF, but if planned and executed well, there's EFFECTIVELY no DoF.
Not only is that not true, but it's nearly the opposite of the truth. Some lenses are sought after specifically for the DoF they produce, and a lens that produces very narrow DoF is actually technically difficult to create.
Gordig hit the mark, as well as other comments. And as for OP's last point, it's on the contrary no matter in real life or 3D world ~ a nice and well planned shot should always need a DoF, only to different extent with various criteria.
I have to say that one may not use it but ignorance of it is a terrible thing.
Also, bokeh.
Yeah, as someone that is a commercial and fine art photographer, I wholeheartedly disagree. Bokeh, aka the blurry sometimes fore, and mostly background elements of a photo are considered pleasing to the eye. It is the separation of the subject from the scene around them. It's not 'bad lenses', because my Nikon 200mm f/2g , a $5k lens, is not a bad lens at all. I wouldn't have spent that much on a lens that was bad. I bought it purposely for the bokeh, for the separation. This is why people buy lenses with apertures of f/1.2, it's the creamy bokeh they produce while shooting wide open. This can also be said for 3d renders, or in-game cameras to produce the same effect. Because people want it realtive to how our eyes are, and separation occurs naturally.
When I shot this, I wanted the background blurred. I wanted the bokeh. I didn't want an enviromental shot because the subjects(this was my belated engagement shoot for my friends I had promised them lol) only mattered.
Or, like this render, where I purely wanted the subject(Aerith) to be the focus of the overall frame.
I want to add that both my photo and my render were created in the same manner. Both where shot with a focal length of 200mm. Both had backlighting from the sun. Both had a light on the subject(s). Both where done with shallow DoF, f/2 with the photo, and realtive with the render. Because emulation of real life in Daz shows you how well the system works in reproducing real life situations with cameras/lenses and lighting.
When it comes to shooting something at say f/22 with a real camera, there the issue of the light coming in, You can only have so much natural light in the day, and even then that natural light, unless you use skrims to diffuse it, is going to be harsh and not always be how you want. Some people use the sunny 16 rule for daylight shooting, but that in of itself doesn't consider bokeh, it considers light. However,even shooting at your lenses minimum aperture does not negate some form of DoF because distance from the camera matters, even shooting at f/22 or above. Now, people can get away with not needing to consider f-stop, OR lighting, in Daz or any other rendering program because, unless you're using camera physics, everything can be in focus and not need as much light or be hindered by a more closed f-stop.
Some people have their tastes, or styles, when it comes to rendering or shooting. Some people like a more shallow DoF, and some like enviromental shots. Even when I shot on film in the 90s, I still liked a lot of bokeh.
What you call "deep focus" is still a biproduct of physics, smaller aperture == greater depth of field, there is no way around it (without cheating with multiple exposures), most older web cameras are "deep focus", the aperture is so small that the focus range is huge, but it's still there, it also depend on the lens, and the closer you focus the smaller the depth of field is.
"Deep focus" is very hard to use as it requires very good lighting with so small aperatures (unless the sensor is tiny or very short lenses), another problem is with so small aperatures you start to run into diffraction problems, especially if you are using larger sensors/negative size.
If you want to use depth of field is up to you but it is important for many things, especially if you are mixing live captured images with CGI images.