TheSixPackExercisebyMoosePeterson

TheSixPackExerciseisdesignedforonlyoneoutcome,foryoutolearnDepthofField(DoF)forYOURgearandYOURphotography.Withthatknown,youmightthinkthereisnorightorwrongansweroroutcome.Nothingcouldbefurtherfromthetruthasyouwillcometolearn.Asthenamesuggests,welearntheseDoFlessonsusingasixpackarrangedintheseconfigurations.

Weusethesixpackbecauseofsizeandelementfamiliarity.Youcanuseanybrandyou’dlike,butitmustbethe12ozcans.Youwillneedsixcansanda12”ruler.Youwillbeassemblingthemaspicturedabove,inaverticalrow,ahorizontalrowandinapyramid.Thecansforeachformationaretobeoneinchapartfromeachother.YouaretotakethephotographsastobedescribedwitharulerinthephotoALWAYSwiththefrontoftheruleratthefrontedgeoftheclosestcanandthenalwayslayingawayfromthecameralensperpendicularfromthefilmplane.Inthecaseofthepyramidformation,therulerislyingontherightsideofthecansinthismanor.

Thisneedstoshotindoorsonawhitesurface.Youmusthaveevenlightingwhichcanbefromawindow,flash,orcombinationofboth,butevenfrontlightingisessential.Lastimportantelementinthesetupisthereisnobackgroundwithinatleasttwelveinchesbehindthelastorfurthestcanfromthelens.Mostidealisshootingthisonawhitesweepbutthatisnotrequired.

YouaregoingtowanttoshootthisonatripodandmakesurethatyourcameraisonSshootingmode(notC,continuous).Youshooteachformationatthesamelevelasthecans.Youareshootingstraightatthecans.Youwillfindthatcreatingsmall,whitecardsthatcanbesetupandtothesideofthecanswithf/stopswrittenonthemmakesiteasiertoseetheresults.Inmakingthesecardsandinshootingtheexercise,youwillbeworkinginwholestops,f1.4,2,2.8,4,5.6,etc.Youwillwantcardsforthethreelensesyouwillbeshootingwith.Thoseareyourwide,longandthefocallengththatisinthemiddleofthesetwo.Forexample,youcoulddothiswith20mm,200mmandthen100mm.Manythrowintothismixtheirfastestlensaswell,forexamplea24f1.4or50f1.4.Themoreyoudo,themoreyoulearn.

Youwillshooteachformationofcanswithallthef/stopsonyourlens.Thelogicalorderistostartwideopenandclosedownwitheachproceedingclick.Youwillshooteachformationlikethisfromthreedifferentdifferences,atonefoot,fourfootandeightfootawayfromtheclosestlens.Thesedistancesaretobemeasuredwithameasuringtapeandnotthedistancescaleonthelensbarrel.Soatonefoot,youwillshoottheentiref/stoprangeofthelensatwholef/stops.Thenyoumovetothenextdistanceanddothesamethingagain.

Thepyramidformationgetsoneextrasetofimages.Youraisethecameratwelveinchesfromtheheightyoushottheeyelevelset.Youshootafullsetofimagesfromthethreedistances.Onceyouhavetheseallshot,createfoldersforeachsetupandplacetheimagesinthosefolders.Oncethisisdone,thefunbegins.