Vivid examples of creative uses of depth of field in photography

Real-world examples of creative uses of depth of field in photography

Let’s skip the textbook definitions and go straight to how photographers actually use depth of field in the wild. Below are real examples of creative uses of depth of field in photography that go beyond the standard “portrait at f/1.8” cliché.

1. Razor-thin focus in portraits: when only one eye is sharp

One powerful example of creative uses of depth of field in photography is the ultra-shallow portrait. Think: 85mm lens, f/1.4, you’re three feet from your subject. Suddenly only one eye is in focus, and everything else—ear, hair, even the far eye—melts away.

Why it works:

• Your viewer has no choice but to lock onto that one sharp detail.
• The blur adds a dreamy, cinematic feel that’s all over social platforms in 2024.
• It turns a normal face shot into something more intimate and psychological.

Try this:

• Stand close, focus on the nearest eye, use your widest aperture (f/1.4–f/2.0).
• Keep the background far away so the blur feels deep, not muddy.
• Ask your subject to slightly angle their face so the in-focus eye sits closer to the camera.

Scroll any modern portrait feed and you’ll see this style everywhere—from wedding photographers to indie musicians’ promo shots. It’s a simple example of how depth of field can crank emotion up to eleven.

2. Foreground blur as a frame: shooting through the scene

Another popular example of creative uses of depth of field in photography is using blurred foreground objects as a frame. Instead of just blurring the background, you put something between you and your subject: plants, glass, railings, even a friend’s shoulder.

What it does:

• Creates layers: foreground (blur), subject (sharp), background (maybe soft).
• Adds mystery, like the viewer is spying or peeking into a private moment.
• Soft color washes from the foreground can add a painterly look.

Real examples include:

• A street portrait shot through a café window, with reflections and smears of light out of focus at the edges.
• A wedding kiss photographed through guests’ raised phones, the couple sharp in the gap.
• A skateboarder framed behind blurred fence bars, turning a boring fence into a graphic element.

Settings to start with:

• Aperture around f/1.8–f/2.8.
• Foreground object very close to your lens.
• Subject at least several feet beyond that.

This style has exploded with mirrorless cameras and fast primes, and it’s one of the best examples of using depth of field to turn clutter into atmosphere.

3. Tilt-shift and fake miniatures: turning cities into toy worlds

If you’ve ever seen a photo of a real city that looks like a model train set, you’ve met another example of creative uses of depth of field in photography: miniature or tilt-shift effects.

Two ways people do this in 2024:

• With a tilt-shift lens, physically tilting the plane of focus.
• With software or smartphone modes that simulate the effect by blurring top and bottom.

Why it feels so weird (and fun):

• In real life, distant scenes have deep depth of field.
• When only a thin horizontal strip is sharp and everything else is heavily blurred, our brains read it as a small tabletop model.

Best examples include:

• Overhead shots of highways where only one lane of cars is sharp.
• A stadium crowd where just a slice of the field is crisp and everything else looks like plastic figurines.
• Rooftop views of downtown at midday, turned into what looks like a Lego city.

This is a textbook example of how changing depth of field can completely alter the scale your viewer perceives.

4. Storytelling focus shifts: foreground sharp, subject soft (on purpose)

Most of the time, we’re taught to keep the main subject sharp. But one of the best examples of creative uses of depth of field in photography flips that rule.

Imagine this:

• In the foreground, a sharply focused note that says “I’m leaving.”
• In the background, a person out of focus, framed in a doorway.

You immediately read the story, even though the person—the obvious “subject”—is blurred. Photographers use this trick in:

• Narrative portrait series.
• Documentary work.
• Product or food photography with a human presence in the background.

To try it:

• Switch to single-point autofocus.
• Put your AF point on the foreground object.
• Use a moderately wide aperture (f/2.8–f/4) so the background is readable but clearly soft.

This technique echoes what filmmakers do with rack focus, but in a single still frame. It’s a subtle example of depth of field as storytelling, not just decoration.

5. Night lights and bokeh shapes: turning blur into the subject

Sometimes the blur itself is the subject. One of the most visually striking examples of creative uses of depth of field in photography is bokeh-heavy night photography.

Think of:

• City lights turned into glowing orbs behind a silhouette.
• Holiday lights behind a couple, each light a big soft circle.
• Car headlights in the rain, smeared into dreamy streaks and blobs.

Trends in 2024 have pushed this further with:

• Custom bokeh shapes using cut-out filters over the lens.
• Smartphone portrait modes that exaggerate background blur for a surreal look.

To get rich bokeh:

• Use a fast lens (f/1.2–f/2.0) if you have one.
• Put small, bright light sources far behind your subject.
• Stand relatively close to your subject to maximize blur.

The best examples include portraits where the subject is almost secondary to the riot of color and light behind them. Depth of field isn’t just hiding the background—it’s turning it into abstract art.

6. Macro photography: turning everyday objects into alien worlds

Macro photography might be the purest example of creative uses of depth of field in photography, because at close distances, depth of field becomes ridiculously thin.

Real examples include:

• Only the tip of a flower petal in focus, with the rest of the flower melting into color.
• A single droplet on a leaf, sharp as glass, with the entire world behind it blurred.
• Insect portraits where just the eyes are crisp and everything else falls away.

At macro distances, even f/8 can give you a paper-thin depth of field. Photographers lean into that to create:

• Abstract color fields.
• Graphic lines and shapes.
• Surreal, dreamlike scenes from totally ordinary subjects.

If you’re starting out:

• Use manual focus and move your body slightly to “rock” into focus.
• Try apertures between f/4 and f/11, depending on how abstract you want it.
• Keep your shutter speed high or use a tripod; tiny movements matter.

Organizations like the Smithsonian regularly showcase macro photography in their competitions, and you’ll see how depth of field turns a bug’s wing into something that looks like a landscape from another planet.

7. Environmental portraits with selective focus: balancing person and place

Not every creative use of depth of field means max blur. Some of the best examples of creative uses of depth of field in photography sit in that middle ground where the background is soft but still readable.

Think of:

• A chef in a kitchen: the chef’s face is sharp, the stove and pans are soft but recognizable.
• A musician in a cluttered rehearsal space: the player is crisp, the gear behind them is softened enough not to distract.

Why this works:

• You’re not just shooting a person; you’re shooting a person in their world.
• Shallow-ish depth of field keeps context without letting it fight the subject.

To get this balance:

• Use a slightly narrower aperture, like f/3.5–f/5.6.
• Step back a bit so the depth of field naturally increases.
• Place your subject several feet in front of key background elements.

This is especially common in editorial and documentary work, including projects featured by universities and nonprofits. It’s a subtle example of depth of field as a way to control how much of the story shows up in focus.

8. Street photography layers: sharp background, blurred passerby

Street photographers often flip the usual script by focusing on the background and letting people in the foreground blur as they walk through the frame.

Examples include:

• A sharply focused mural with a blurred pedestrian passing in front of it.
• A storefront in focus with streaks of people walking by, half-ghost, half-human.
• A static billboard message sharp as a tack, with traffic flowing in a soft mess of color.

How to do it:

• Pre-focus on a fixed point (sign, doorway, crosswalk).
• Use continuous shooting as people move through.
• Aperture around f/4–f/8 depending on light; adjust shutter speed to freeze or blur motion.

This gives you layered images where depth of field and motion blur team up. It’s a real-world example of creative uses of depth of field in photography that feels cinematic and very 2020s.

How to think about depth of field creatively (not technically)

You don’t need a physics degree to use these ideas. You just need to ask better questions than “What aperture should I use?”

When you’re planning a shot, try questions like:

• What should the viewer notice first?
• What can safely disappear into blur?
• Would this scene be more interesting if the “wrong” thing was sharp?

From there, adjust:

• Aperture: wider (f/1.4–f/2.8) for shallow depth of field, narrower (f/8–f/16) for more in focus.
• Distance to subject: closer means shallower depth of field.
• Focal length: longer lenses exaggerate blur at the same aperture and distance.

Authoritative educational sites like Harvard’s digital photography resources break down the physics if you’re curious, but you don’t need formulas to experiment. The real magic comes from trying your own examples of creative uses of depth of field in photography and seeing what feels right for your style.

2024–2025 trends in creative depth of field

Depth of field hasn’t changed, but the way we use it definitely has.

Some current trends:

• Smartphone simulation: Portrait modes now mimic shallow depth of field, sometimes with adjustable blur strength. Creators are intentionally pushing it too far to get a surreal, almost AI-painted look.
• Hybrid stills and video: Photographers shooting both stills and short-form video are borrowing cinematic focus tricks—like foreground-only focus or extreme close-ups with shallow depth of field—to keep feeds visually consistent.
• AI-aware composition: With AI editing tools getting better, some shooters are using depth of field to mark what’s “real” and what’s flexible. For example, keeping the subject sharp and letting the background blur into an area that’s easy to replace or stylize later.

Even organizations like the Library of Congress show how depth of field has evolved across decades of photography, from large-format film with deep focus to today’s ultra-shallow digital portraits. Studying these archives can spark new ideas for your own examples of creative uses of depth of field in photography.

FAQ: examples of creative uses of depth of field in photography

What are some easy examples of creative uses of depth of field in photography I can try today?
Start with three simple ideas: a portrait where only one eye is sharp, a shot framed through a blurred foreground object like leaves or a window, and a night scene where background lights turn into bokeh. These give you instant, visible changes and are the best examples for learning how depth of field changes the mood of a photo.

Can I get creative depth of field with a smartphone?
Yes. Use portrait mode and tap to choose your focus point. Get close to your subject and keep the background far away. Many phones now let you adjust the blur strength after the fact, so you can test different examples of creative uses of depth of field in photography without reshooting.

Is shallow depth of field always better for portraits?
Not always. Very shallow depth of field can look trendy but also distracting if only part of the face is sharp. For groups or environmental portraits, a slightly deeper depth of field (like f/4–f/5.6 on a camera) often gives better results while still looking polished.

What’s an example of using deep depth of field creatively?
Landscape and architecture shots where everything from the foreground rock to the distant mountain is sharp are classic. You can also use deep focus in street scenes to show layers of activity from front to back. It’s still an example of creative use of depth of field—you’re intentionally choosing to keep everything in play.

How do I practice without getting overwhelmed by settings?
Pick one scene and shoot it multiple ways: subject sharp / background blurred, background sharp / subject blurred, and then everything sharp. Compare the results. This kind of small, focused experiment will give you your own real examples of how depth of field changes a photo, faster than reading any manual.

Depth of field is basically your focus superpower. The more you collect your own examples of creative uses of depth of field in photography—portraits, street shots, macro experiments—the more it stops being a technical setting and starts being a voice.