Playing with DOF

I just bought myself a 50mm lens and have been experimenting with the wider aperatures now available to me. On the positive side I've already noticed that I can shoot in much lower light. But, the trade-off is that, when shooting close up, it is difficult to get sharp focus, and you have to be really conscious of what will be in focus, especially while shooting close up.

This morning I was attracted to the wonderful light hitting the mini-rose on my kitchen windowsill. So I played with the F-stop. I set each shot at close as the lens would allow (about 19"). No processing, just cropping.

The first shot was made at F1.8. I noticed that only the edges of a few petals of the tiny rose are in focus, even though the blossom is less than 3/4" across.

The next rose was shot at F4. Now the whole rose is in focus. Much easier to do, but already the background is more distracting to me. And, the background is much darker.

This next was shot at F11

And, this at F22 (to complete the range available to me). In this, the whole rose bush is in focus but the background is really distracting.

So, clearly trade-offs to be made.

Cheers ... Nancy