During the month of June the challenge on my Travel blog is about being creative with the depth of field (DOF). So I have been playing around with my aperture settings. These are both taken using my phone camera which has a large range of aperture settings and seems to work better than the camera. I carry my phone around with me even when gardening just in case something catches my eye and I don’t have to run back to the house for the camera.

This is my Cornish hedge which is in my ‘Wild Garden’ / Car Parking area. Having got fed up of all the weeds, brambles, nettles etc that covered this attractive structure, last year I attempted to dig all the weeds out; my son helped to rebuild parts that had collapsed. I then planted lots of cuttings of other plants from my garden and chucked a packet of wildflower seeds onto it. Although there are still plenty of Herb Robert and Creeping Buttercups, (and we won’t mention the bindweed), it hasn’t been too bad this year although the ox-eye daisies that must have been in the wildflower mix do seem to have taken over – and also get flattened by the wind. It is a very exposed site!

Jude, the shallow depth looks fab, and you focussed on a favourite flower of mine, the common daisy.
Daisies are lovely. I have far too many common daisies in my lawn though!
Interesting what you can achieve with your phone. My camera phone is less sophisticated, but the main problem is that in summer light I simply can’t see the screen. I have to point and hope for the best. You’ve achieved a great result.
Ah, yes, that is a problem with the phone.
Those 2 photos demonstrate very clearly the difference the aperture settings make
Stunning, learning so much from your challenge. And now inspired to experiment with phone – although maybe not today as it’s bucketing down.
Neatly put, Jude! I need to get cracking…
Wish I was tolerant of changing apertures and stuff, too impatient 😦 my bestie has some Herb Robert which is quite a delight 🙂
Spreads like crazy though and a lot of people complain about the smell.
You’ve clarified for me something I’ve read about but never fully understood. Thank you! Off now to take a few shots with varying dof. Delighted to know that the phone camera has these settings that I thought were only available on my real camera. Bindweed? I refuse to photograph that…
Haha bindweed gets into a lot of my photos! Glad to have been of some help 😊
Love the shallow DOF of the daisies, Jude.
Thanks Dina. I’m having fun experimenting 😊
The open aperture hides the oil tank, which is a bonus. 🙂
(Heating Oil is very cheap just now, in case you need any)
Best wishes, Pete.
Yes, I was thinking of getting it topped up.
It’s good idea to push us phone photographers beyond our comfort zone and show us what we can achieve if we set our minds to it. One thing I do miss by using an iPhone is control of the DOF, which I used to enjoy when I used a ‘real’ camera. One of the biggest advantage is it naturally has quite a wide DOF, which is very forgiving as a general rule, but it is not often I get a really good macro effect. But I much prefer the colour and the pocketability.