Aperture

The aperture is the opening in the lens that allows light to enter the camera and onto the sensor or film. The size of this opening can be adjusted by changing the aperture settings. Take a look at the picture of a lens aperture above. Notice the adjustable blades that can move to adjust the size of the opening.

Focusing on a camera

Manual focus (MF) is the function to let the photographer adjust the focus manually instead of the camera. Although autofocus (AF) shooting is more typical in digital cameras, MF is effective when focusing is difficult with autofocus, such as in macro shooting.

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.

Depth Of Field

Depth of Field refers to the distance between the closest and farthest objects that appears acceptably sharp in a photograph. In other words, it’s the area in front of and behind the subject that appears in focus. It helps distinguish the foreground from the background to create a focal point that draws the eye and tells it where to look.

Ralph Eugene Meatyard

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 liked to experiment with ‘No focus photos’ which are blurry photos.

These would mean that he had probably used manual focus on his camera to capture these blurry photos. He also took quite a few photos of ‘Zen Twigs’. With his study of “Zen Twigs” Meatyard examined the mysterious forms of tree branches photographed close-up with a low depth of field. The camera’s focus on the twig detail contrasts with the obscured shapes of the background.