ORIGINAL: hugger-4641
Thanks again Gordon for the explaination, I still have to ask this question: If I got farther away when shooting, say 100 feet or more, and got the pilot to bring the plane a little closer to himself, would the "depth of field" still be too shallow to get both in focus? Is there a lense that would be better suited for this, an angle that works better, or is it always going to be choice of what to focus on?
Your thinking is dead on, Jerry. The farther away you are, the less on an issue DOF is. Take a look at my 2nd hockey picture for an example. Same lens, same aperture...but everyone's in focus, despite the fact they're considerably farther apart than the two people in the first picture. While I described it earlier as a "fixed depth box" if you will, it's really not. It is, to be more precise, more of a "ratio" if you will.
And, if you think about it, it makes sense. Consider looking two people 100' away. Even if they're 10' apart, they LOOK close together. yet, if one of them is right in front of you, the other 11' from you, they'll appear to be considerably farther apart....despite the same 10' separation.
The difference is, to use a modeling term, "scale". If a guy's 5' away, and another 10' away, #2 is "twice as far". But if one guy is 100' away, and another 105' away, the 2nd guy is only 5% farther, right?
So, yes...if you get farther away, you wouldn't really even need the pilot to bring the plane much closer...you could get far enough away to have both of them in focus. of course, then they're smaller...so hey.
Welcome to the world of photography...EVERYTHING is a trade-off.
(Sorta like model airplanes, come to think of it.
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