In a photograph, the area of critical focus is the portion of the picture that is optically in focus. This does not relate to depth of field which describes apparent sharpness. Reducing the size of the aperture will increase the depth of field but the plane of critical focus will not change. Depth of field extends away from the plane of critical sharpness.
The image is only critically in focus within a plane. The formula that describes the relationship between plane of sharpness, lens and film is
- ,
where is the film to lens distance, is the distance from the lens to the plane of critical focus, and is the focal length of the lens.
'Critical Focus' is also the title of a regular column by Brian J. Ford in the American magazine The Microscope.
Famous quotes containing the words critical and/or focus:
“It would be easy ... to regard the whole of world 3 as timeless, as Plato suggested of his world of Forms or Ideas.... I propose a different view—one which, I have found, is surprisingly fruitful. I regard world 3 as being essentially the product of the human mind.... More precisely, I regard the world 3 of problems, theories, and critical arguments as one of the results of the evolution of human language, and as acting back on this evolution.”
—Karl Popper (1902–1994)
“No other group in America has so had their identity socialized out of existence as have black women.... When black people are talked about the focus tends to be on black men; and when women are talked about the focus tends to be on white women.”
—bell hooks (b. c. 1955)