For this second exercise, I took the same setup with the same lens, and varied the aperture to control the depth of field recorded in the image. I started with the smallest available aperture, f22, and opened the lens in one stop intervals to wide open, f2.8. The corresponding shutter speed varied from 6" to 1/60th.
The longer exposures led to a reduced level of contrast and a brighter background than the images shot at a shorter shutter speed.
Almost all of the first image is in focus. As soon as the lens comes off minimum aperture, some blurring becomes apparent although the effect isn't obvious until image #3 onwards.
Similar to exercise one, the finger guide circles are a point of interest and identify the image as a guitar fingerboard. By the last image, both circles are blurred and the image loses its identity.
Of the images, #4 looks most pleasing. It has the clear 3 dimensional effect inherent in shallow depth of field, but does not loose its identity.
Prior to these two exercises, I took an extreme approach to aperture - smallest aperture, shutter speed permitting, to get everything in focus, widest aperture when I want to get selective focus.
Having done the exercises, I've learned that apertures should be controlled in a far more subtle manner for best effect and that intermediate settings can give a more attractive effect.
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