On Thu, 13 Aug 1998 16:46:46 -0800, tired.of.spam@nospam.com (Rudy Garcia) wrote:

[......]
>Biggest DOF is obtained at the hyperfocal distance setting, where the rear
>portion of the DOF extendes to infinity. If this is not posible because
>of your setup, or subject range, bear in mind that in non-macro
>situations, the DOF is proportioned out from about 1/3 in front of the
>focused point to 2/3 behind it.

This is technically correct, but I find it often leaves the distant
detail looking less sharp than the foreground. Distant
image material is often small in scale, and near material is
often larger in scale - so equal resolution in the different scalings
often makes for less-sharp looking backgrounds than foregrounds.
I would go closer to focusing 1/2 the way through the zone of
desired DOF coverage, and stop down an additional stop (and
since a less sharp lens appears to have greater DOF than a
sharper one, the loss of sharpness due to diffraction at small
stops can enhance DOF, though at the expense of sharpness ;-).
DOF is not a technical reality, but has more to do with
perceptions (nothing is really sharp except what the lens has
been focused on, assuming a high-resolution lens - we just
find ways to cheat that reality...;-).