Blog #2 Depth of Field

12 Portraits of Walker Evans and Unidentified Man Reading shot by Walker Evans in the 1950s is a series of 12 images of these two men reading. This image features a man lying on his side resting on his left elbow. Only his torso and waist are in the frame while his legs are not visible as they are off the left of the photo. This hair is gelled and uniform with a large strand obstructing a part of his forehead. He is staring directly into the camera with a rather blank expression. It should be noted too that his face is relatively centered in the image and is definitely the focal point of the piece. In the background we see a blurred bookcase and what looks to be some furniture. The background is blurred due to the short depth of field used when taking this picture. The man being in focus while everything else is blurred tells us that he is the primary focus of the image, everything else is just supporting him. 

In this image, Salgado captures a line of chinstrap penguins diving off of an iceberg into a raging arctic ocean below. This is combined with vast and daunting mountains in the background. The size of the icy mountains in the background combined with the tiny penguins in the foreground makes the viewer feel very small, dwarfed by the mountains. This fact is why the deep depth of field technique used is so important. The depth of field used allows the viewer to clearly see the penguins contrasted with the huge mountains in the background.