The Hidden Secret (advantage) Behind Zoom Lenses. Achieving Better Photographic Results Using ICE

Let's talk today about a hidden secret that involves zoom lenses for cameras. For I have recently discovered something truly astonishing about this. Before we begin however, let me tell you about depth of field, otherwise written as DOF for short. As some might know, a very shallow DOF can be applied to relatively large scenes in order to create an illusion of very small, miniature, scale. And another fact that many might know already, is that this effect can be very easily created by two of the most popular tutorials, or techniques; the first would be to simply use a tilt-shift lens. Here are the pros and cons of this technique:

• Pros: Tilt shifts produce exceptional image quality throughout the entire frame, or image. They can also be used to create a seemingly "infinite" DOF. 
• Cons: ...However, these are known to cost well over $1,000, even for the cheapest brands. 

Now let's talk about the next technique, which is also pretty simple once you learn it. It's using Photoshop, in which you can easily manipulate DOF

• Pros: This technique offers much more control over the DOF, since it is not "Taken; In other words, you can achieve various levels of DOF, whereas otherwise, if you had used a tilt shift, you would be limited to DOF that could only be smaller than the initial image; you could not increase DOF unless, of course, you start with an image that's taken using a regular lens. Either that, or you take an additional image with tilt shift, using a large DOF. This means that you might need to use up about twice as much space on your memory card. That might now be much of an issue when taking only one image, however if you keep taking more and more images, then that will become more of an issue, as memory used might stack up quickly
• Cons: There aren't really any cons that I can think of, except the fact that as opposed to a tilt-shift lens, you don't have the effect in-camera.

Finally, we will talk about the last technique, which I have come up with myself. First of all, the great thing about zoom lenses is that you can use various focal lengths without needing to use different lenses. However, you do not necessarily need a zoom lens in order to achieve an unusually small DOF. First of all, here are the pros and cons of this technique:

• Pros: Does not require special software, or lens (it's free!). Also, the really unique benefits are that you can achieve much higher resolution. Yet another interesting benefit is explained down below 
• Cons: It can often be really tedious, and does not work well in some conditions, such as when there's wind or objects in the scene are moving.

What you would need to do is to download a program, one that I don't think most of us know of. It's pretty perplexing, given that it's by Microsoft. I guess people just prefer other programs since they already have them installed. It's called ICE. ICE was originally meant to produce images out of multiple panoramas, in order to create what is called a collage, or a grid like pattern of images, creating a larger, much higher resolution, image. In some ways, this method is less practical as compared to the other options; however, there is a benefit to this that many don't know; and it can help you become much better at achieving better compositions. This is because the resulting image contains multiple images, each with it's own composition. Wait... what does this mean to a photographer?! It means that a photographer can find images in the collage, and each will have a unique composition, and you could even find a composition somewhere in the collage that looks interesting, that you would otherwise miss or ignore, trying to just create a single picture. A single image is based on just one perspective, and by creating a collage, you can have many times more cropping ability without needing to have to reduce the image quality so much. Any questions?