In autofocus the camera focuses automatically to some point on the photo which either the camera or the user selects. In manual focus the user focuses manually until the image is sharp. The camera may offer aids to manual focus like image magnification or focus peaking witch makes focused part show in different colour.

Focal Length

Focal length is the distance (measured in millimetres) between the point of convergence of your lens and the sensor or film recording the image. The focal length of your film or digital camera lens dictates how much of the scene your camera will be able to capture. Below are a few examples of different Focal Lengths focusing on the same thing/image.

Aperture

Aperture plays a big part in Photography too as it is able to blur the foreground and background around an Object (shallow depth of field) with a low f-stop number; or keep the photo sharp from foreground to background (wide depth of field) with a high f-stop number.

The diagram below shows/gives a clearer understanding of how Aperture works.

For Example; if we changed the Cameras Aperture was 2.8, the Lens would be wider producing an image such as…

This allows the Camera to focus on a distinct Object while it Soft Blurs the background, producing a plain but beautiful image.

Another Example is when we adjust the Cameras Aperture to 8, the lens will get smaller producing an image such as…

This allows the Camera to focus on more than one Object producing a somewhat clearer and decent image.

Lastly, if we increase the Cameras Aperture to 22, the lens will be significantly smaller producing a smoother, better, and clearer image such as…

Depth of Field

Depth of Field is interlinked with Aperture as Aperture is the cause and Depth of field is the effect when taking an Image. Depth of Field is the portion of that distance or ‘depth’ that is ‘in-focus’. A higher depth of field would see the whole image from foreground to background sharp and in focus, a lower depth would result in blurry backgrounds and blurred elements in the foreground too.

Photographers who used Depth of Field

Ralph Eugene Meatyard was a visionary photographer known for his dreamlike black & white photographs of family members in masks, elegant portraits of bohemian friends and radical experiments in abstraction.

Meatyard’s work spanned many genres and experimented with new means of expression, from dreamlike portraits—often set in abandoned places—to multiple exposures, motion-blur, and other methods of photographic abstraction. He also collaborated with his friend Wendell Berry on the 1971 book The Unforeseen Wilderness, for which Meatyard contributed photographs of Kentucky’s Red River Gorge. Meatyard’s final series, The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater, are cryptic double portraits of friends and family members wearing masks and enacting symbolic dramas.

School Camera Photography