Thank you, buddingphotographer! I was too tired when I first saw your response to make heads or tails of it, but now I think it makes sense… tell me if I’m wrong!
So, if I understand correctly, when I’m so close to my subject that the camera’s proximity to the object diminishes light intake, my Nikon shows a different aperture number from what it is really using. And if I stop down as far as I can, my camera is really using f/2.8, but is telling me that it’s using f/3.5 or something else (little liar! 🙂 ) to indicate that it only has as much light as it would at its said aperture focused at infinity. The purpose of this deceitful display ( 🙂 ) is to inspire me to increase my light source in order to compensate for the decrease in light due to my being so close. That said, however, my DOF must still be that of the f/2.8?