Re: More Lense questions-Sorry-

Again, late to the party but the guys above have done an excellent job explaining depth of field in relation to the aperture. Looking at your first photo of the bee, the bee itself looks about right in terms of sharpness as my photos before I run them through photo shop. Normally the last thing I go before saving a picture from photoshop if run it through an 'Unsharp Mask' filter. I don't remember my exact setting but here is a decent article on the principles of it. [content.photojojo.com]

I for one, love using bigger apertures to have the out of focus background effect. To me, it makes the viewer just focus on the subject without the distraction of the background. Here is a decent little guide that expands on depth of field and apertures a bit more. Here are a few examples of how the larger apertures can be used in railroad photography, though they tend to be more of the artsey bits. Standard railroad photography uses smaller apertures (F8 or so) to make sure everything is nice and infocus.

Large Aperture 1
Large Aperture 2

Brian Jansky
Houston, Tx
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