Camera Obscura: Jason Ierace Shares Why a Shallow Depth of Field Gives More Depth

A man of many perspectives, Jason Ierace is an accomplished art director as well as photographer. Jason originally studied both design and photography, and has been pursuing his original passion for photography for the past 20 years.

Based in Sydney, Jason is versatile in shooting portraiture and lifestyle, and he is equally well at ease composing technical beauty or conceptual advertising work. He is fascinated by light, people, experiences, emotions and the broad depth of humanity, with a  keen eye for capturing the honesty of life, the in-between moments, and the true character of his subjects. 

Film Construction recently announced the addition of Jason in its newly created Stills Division in September. He has worked with clients such as Tourism Australia, Singapore Airlines, SAMSUNG, Heineken, KIA, Speedo, Dairy Farmers, Whitsundays Tourism, and Destination NSW.

LBB> What is your niche craft obsession? 

Jason> At the moment, I'm really loving shooting with a very shallow depth of field… f1.2 for everything!

LBB> Where/ when/ how did you first come across this thing? 

Jason> I started using some Fuji lenses on the X series cameras for personal work and was just loving it. I shoot Canon for most of my work, and while the ef 85mm was great, the ef 50mm was hit and miss. I started using the ef 35mm f1.4 and found a place I loved to shoot in. Canon seems to be lagging a little with new lenses and tech, so I started trying some Nikon gear, then Sony gear, and then the new RF Canon gear came out… here is where I ended up. The new lenses are incredible. The system is fast and the primes are all F1.2… I am just waiting for them to release a few more.

LBB> Was it an obsession straight away or something that has evolved over the years? 

Jason> It's something I have always loved and have tried to introduce it wherever possible. For the last few years, I have been trying to make my images a little more cinematic in feel. I love the shallow depth, soft shadows, grain, colour shifts, etc… and trying to introduce them into my work where it allows, obviously client-dependent.

LBB> What are the most interesting debates or conversations you are having around this obsession? 

Jason> Most people love things shot at very shallow depth. They think it looks great but a lot of people don’t know why it looks the way it does. Grade has a lot to do with it but I love how it softens the image. I can tell the person viewing the image where to look thru my focal point, yet create some magic with bokeh or out-of-focus parts of the image.

I don’t think everything needs to be in focus in an image to tell a story…. Some people think otherwise, so a lot of the time, I need to pull it back a bit. I think out-of-focus areas draw you into the image and make you feel a part of it.

LBB> How widespread do you think this obsession is with your peers? 

Jason> To be honest, I’m not sure. I know people use this a bit but I do feel it's something that probably fits genres of work like portraiture or lifestyle imagery, for instance.

LBB> Can you share any examples of work where that obsession really came to the fore and elevated the final production? Can you tell us about it and share links if possible? 

Jason> Here are some images that show exactly what I am talking about. I am directing the viewer to specific parts of the image.

LBB> For anyone just getting into your field, what advice would you share to help them get their head around this particular thing? 

Jason> Depth of field is a personal thing. It's a basic yet handy tool in photography but can be very powerful and add dimension to any image. It's an easy thing to play with and can be adjusted to suit any situation.