Auto Focus and Manual Focus (AF and MF)

Auto focus is for general use, so you can use it for a large variety of things as it is the basic use for a camera. It automatically focuses the image. Whereas, manual focus is for specific photos you want to take, like close ups and detailed images, so it enables you to control the focus of the image.

Auto focus is typically used to track a subject when it’s moving around the frame, as it’s easier to get a clear image since auto focus will capture the subject without making it blurry.

The Focal Length

Focal length is the optical distance (usually measured in mm) from the centre of its lens and its focus. This helps to determine how much you can see from the camera.

For example, in this image below, you can recognise that the picture taken on the far left has been from up close, whereas the image on the far right is using a high focal length and a shallow depth of field as the background’s blurry. By using the focal length, the man’s face is now more symmetrical, as it’s taken from afar but zoomed in to make him look more proportionally accurate.

Depth of Field and Aperture

depth of field is..

Aperture controls the amount of light let into the camera by adjusting the lens. The higher the f/stop number, for example, f/22, the smaller the lens hole will mean there will be a small aperture. This enables the entire image to be in focus, with all the details being clearly visible. Whereas, with a lower f/stop number, like f/2.8, only the subject will be visible with the rest being more blurry. You can look at other examples on this chart below:

My examples from the Canon Camera Simulator:

Shutter Speed: 1/3

Aperture: 22

ISO Setting: 400

At this aperture, you can notice that everything is in focus, as the higher the aperture, the clearer the image will be. This is useful when you take photos where you want everything to be in focus, like if you were to take a photo of landscapes as all the minuscule details are captured.

Shutter Speed: 1/60

Aperture: 8

ISO Setting: 1600

As you can see, in this image the plane is still in focus, however around the edges the objects are slightly blurred. This is because the aperture number is in the middle between out of focus and clear.

Shutter Speed: 1/180

Aperture: 2.8

ISO Setting: 400

In this image, it is recognised that only the subject (the plane) is in focus whilst everything else is blurred and out of focus. This is due to the low aperture number, but this is good for taking images where you only want one subject to be the main focus.

Artist Research

Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Ralph was born in 1925 and passed in 1976, but in his lifetime Meatyard pursued his passion for photography in various ways, like his most famous work ‘Zen Twigs’ and his no focus work. His ‘Zen Twigs’ are photos of zoomed in twigs (using large aperture and a small depth of field) to make the twigs the main subject and the rest blurred. His no focus images are made by putting the camera on manual focus and changing the lens to create a foggy effect.

Ralph specialised in changing the cameras focus and depth of field, as well as motion blur and a range of exposure to invent an interesting look, as your mind tries to assemble what some of the images actually are, like in the ones above where you can partially figure out what it is.

Contact Sheet

Best Photos: Edited

Shutter speed is the time taken for the shutter of the camera to close. There are such things as fast shutter speed – which is needed for fast moving objects like sports, or quick animals, or slow shutter speed – which is used to create a blurred or delayed effect, like a cars tail lights when it drives.

A slow shutter speed can increase the amount of light let in through the lens, whereas a fast shutter speed has a shorter amount of time to let light through the lens, meaning images can sometimes become ore dim-lit. A slow shutter speed’s exposure time is usually around 1/4, and an example of a fast shutter speeds exposure time is 1/500.

In-between these two, is a medium shutter speed like 1/30 seconds. A medium shutter speed is the in-between amount from a fast shutter and a slow shutter speed. To understand this concept, look at the image below:

Artist Research

Francesca Woodman

Francesca Stern Woodman was a talented photographer who was born in America (April 3rd, 1858 – January 19th, 1981). She is well-known for her long exposure images, which consist of herself and other female models making extravagant movements to achieve a continuous and blurred effect. Woodman’s work was in monochrome colours, to enhance and highlight the range of movement seen in her work. Her images were actually part of her portfolio, as she unfortunately passed at only 22 years old. Her work is loved by many still to this day, decades later.

Here are some examples of her work:

In my images, I implemented Francesca’s shutter speed photos into mine by spinning around to create a similar effect. But, I also had to be weary and ensure my images weren’t having exposure for too long, as that can cause the image to dim so the work isn’t visible.

My Contact Sheet: Studio Images

My Contact Sheet: Outside

Best Photos Outside: Edited

Camera Obscura

The Camera Obscura is a scientific photograph, where the image is reflected directly from the sun’s rays to diagonally flip the image upside down. To achieve this, you must be in a dim lit room with a black cover that you can poke a hole through. By doing this, the reflection will convert the image from the outside. However, this process makes it difficult to determine the origins of photography, since it’s a natural image which is shown below.

Nicephore Niepce

Niepce cleverly found a way for the camera obscura to be transformed from a projection to a photograph that he could physically hold. However, his work had a flaw as they would fade during daylight and would eventually turn fully black. The process of having this fixed image was a long one, as it took him 8 hours to produce this one. His images were also in monochrome colours, and weren’t as clear as the images made today, but at this time, this image was revolutionary.

Henry Fox Tabolt

Tabolt discovered what he called, “Photogenic Drawing”, where he realised if you use a a thin sheet of paper covered in salt and lightly coated with silver nitrate, and left if out in the sun with pieces covering certain parts to block the light out, and put it under a piece of glass, that you could make you’re own ‘Photogenic Drawing’.

Later on, he began to create ‘mouse traps’, which were essentially small wooden boxes, with a little lens and at the back, Tabolt stuck a piece of paper to it that is chemically sensitive to the light.

Louis Daguerre

Louis is known for his famous product ‘The Daguerreotype’, which was a heavy camera that makes one copy on a silvered copper plate. The images that this camera produced were detailed and accurate in black and white, making them iconic as it was the first successful type of image, like a polaroid. However, the Daguerreotype was produced around the same time as the ‘mousetraps’, but since Tabolt’s work could produce more than one copy, his work became more liked and used more often.

Richard Maddox

Maddox designed ‘dry plates’ which was a piece of glass covered with silver bromide, but his camera meant that you didn’t have to develop the images right after taking the photo. His work was revolutionary for his time, as his camera became the first camera that could be held with one hand, whereas the others had to be placed. However, the images still had to be developed in a dark room, similarly to some of the other camera designs.

George Eastman

Kodak (Brownie)

Digital Photography

Digital photography is a much simpler version of photography, compared to the Camera Obscura where they had to