Depth of field

Depth of field is the range of distances in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image. Its extent depends on focus, aperture, focal length, and viewing conditions.

Circle of confusion: The image blur circle produced when a point is not focused exactly on the image plane. Its permitted size sets the practical boundary between acceptable sharpness and visible blur.
Bokeh: The visual character of out-of-focus areas in a photograph. Depth of field determines which parts of the scene become defocused backgrounds or foregrounds.
Depth of focus: The range of image-plane positions over which a sensor or film can move while maintaining acceptable sharpness. It concerns tolerance behind the lens, unlike depth of field's range of scene distances.
Geometric optics: A model of light that describes image formation using rays rather than wave effects. Depth-of-field calculations commonly use its ray-based account of lens imaging.
Aperture: An adjustable opening in a lens that controls the amount of light reaching the image sensor or film. A narrower opening generally increases the range that appears sharp.
Portrait photography: A photographic genre centered on depicting people, individually or in groups. A shallow sharp region can separate a person from a distracting background.
Motion blur: Image smearing caused by movement of the camera or subject during an exposure. Motion blur reduces sharpness through movement, not through distance from the focus plane.
Image sensor: An electronic device that converts incoming light into image data. Sensor size and resolution influence how blur is recorded and judged.
F-number: A dimensionless measure of a lens's aperture, calculated as focal length divided by entrance-pupil diameter. It expresses aperture size in the notation used to compare depth-of-field settings.
Landscape photography: A photographic genre depicting natural or built environments across broad views. Photographers often seek extensive sharpness from foreground to distant scenery.

Linked from 38 pages