In order to take this kind of picture you need to learn the
art of controlling the depth of field in your lenses. The depth of field is the distance between nearest
and farthest object that appears in acceptable focus in the photograph. The increasing the depth of field in the
picture decreases the sharpness of the image of the objects being captured. However, if you decrease the depth of field,
the background will appear out of focus, but the subject of the photo will
appear extremely sharp. This plays a
significant role in capturing the beauty of the object you are photographing.
Now imagine if you do not master the art of managing the
depth of field. Either you will always
have everything in perceivable focus, thus never really capturing the full
extent of beauty before you, or you might find yourself focused on the wrong object,
missing the beauty all together. Given
how much can be lost in a photo by not learning this skill, it is worth taking
the time to learn to use a few adjustments on your camera to master this art.
I was thinking about this because I am going on a trip. I know there is bound to be great
opportunities to capture beauty and I am now wishing I had finished my DVD
photo course before now. My mind tends
to move from one thing to another and before I knew it, I was no longer
thinking about photos, but about people.
It struck me that capturing beauty in people is a lot like
capturing beauty in a photograph. With people,
we tend to think they are beautiful or they are not, but what if that is not
true. What if recognizing the beauty in
someone else takes the same skill necessary to capture beauty in a picture. What if recognizing the beauty in a person is
dependent on your ability to master the art of adjusting the depth of field in
how you see them. If you were able to
master this art, how would it change the way you see, value, and interact with
people?
I have noticed that our experience of people is directly
related to what we focus on. This
explains why one person can find great beauty in a particular individual, while
another person looks that the same individual and does not see anything
attractive.
Those who have allowed selfishness, bitterness, pain, discord,
envy and jealousy to be the mechanisms of their focusing often only see
ugliness.
Those, however, who have allowed the instruments of truth, nobility, rightness, purity, loveliness, admirableness, excellence
and praiseworthiness to be what controls their depth of field, find beauty
everywhere. These are the artist who are
able to takes pictures of common objects and turn them in to art. They are also able to see in those who appear
to be ordinary people great beauty.
What would it be to develop this kind of
vision?
Like taking good photos, this takes
discipline and practice. I would suggest
you begin today. With each person you
come in contact with, ask yourself what do I see in them that is true, noble,
admirable, lovely, worthy of praise, in short beautiful. When you recognize it, take a mental picture
of it.
I wonder how this little exercise would
change your perception of the people you encounter today. I wonder how it would affect how you relate
to them. I wonder how much more beauty
you would encounter as you go through your day.
It is worth a shot.
Finally,
brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is
excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. – Philippians 4:8
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