Focal Point

A focal point of a picture can be be the most important part of any image. It's purpose is to draw the viewers attention to the part of the image you want highlighted. A focal point gives the viewers eyes a place to rest on, but still experience the emotion or the mood of the entire image. When a picture has no focal point, the viewers eyes will wander, and when they see nothing that catches their eye, they will get bored and move on. The goal you want to achieve when using a focal point is to make the viewer stop and look, and to captivate their full attention for prolonged moment.

Here I used the grain elevator and silo as my focal point

To make a focal point stand out, it must be placed in the image correctly. This is where the rule of thirds comes in. The rule of thirds is when you imagine a grid of two vertical lines and two horizontal lines running over your image, cutting the image into a grid of thirds. The correct places to put your focal point are any places where those imaginary lines intersect. It also helps to you place your horizon line on any two of the horizontal lines. An off centred focal point is much more interesting and pleasing to the eye.

Aperture

Using different aperture sizes are just one of the many techniques used when taking a picture. Different aperture sizes refer to how much light is passing through the camera lens, which will change the result of the picture taken.

To make the subject of their photo stand out more, people tend to use lower aperture sizes to blur out the background and keep their subject in focus. The smaller the aperture size, the more blurred the background will be. This is a very good technique to use when wanting to make the subject of the photo grab the viewers attention. Examples of low aperture sizes are f/4.5, f/6. Heres an example of a photo taken with a low aperture size. Since the leaves in the background are blurred, they don't take the viewers attention away from the subject, producing a crisp image of the pine cone making it really stand out.

Although using small aperture sizes are quite popular, using larger aperture sizes, for example f/16, or f/22, are just as beneficial. They will make both the subject and the background in focus. This is commonly used in landscape photography where the entire image will be in focus, and can help capture very stunning pictures!