What is aperture?
Aperture is the hole inside of your lens that lets light in. Different lenses have different apertures. A lens of f/1.4 will have a large hole where as a lens of f/4.5 will have a smaller hole.
Aperture is measured in f stops. Lets say you have a lens that has a maximum aperture of f/1.8, when you set the aperture to f/1.8 the hole in your lens will be at its largest, and will allow the most light in ( this is called “shooting wide open”). Now lets say you switch the aperture to f/22 that same hole will become much smaller and allow in less light.
So the smaller the f stop number, the larger the hole in your lens becomes, and vice versa.
Which aperture to use?
There are a few things to consider when choosing an aperture. First off you want to look at the lighting you have available, if you are shooting pictures indoors where lighting is limited (and you aren’t using a flash) you will want to choose a large aperture (small number). I often shoot at f/1.8 when inside, or the largest aperture my lens has. Remember the larger the aperture the more light you are letting in.
If you are outdoors or in a well lit area, you can vary your aperture for different effects. When you make adjustments to your aperture you are also going to effecting the depth of field in your picture. The best way to illustrate this is with examples.
A large aperture will give your picture a shallow depth of field. Meaning that only what you focused your lens on will be in focus and the area around it will be blurry. Like this:
Shot at f/1.8
The smaller you make your aperture the more of your picture comes into focus. Like this:
Shot at f/5.6
Even smaller, and even more becomes in focus. Like this:
Shot at f/11
Can you see in the first picture, that the whole branch isn’t even all in focus? Notice also, how the branch in the background becomes more in focus as I use a smaller aperture.
Where is my aperture?
If you don’t have a DSLR, look for a lady’s head symbol on your point and shoot.
Things to remember/know about aperture:
- the smaller the f stop number the larger your aperture is
- when shooting in low light choose the largest aperture available
- shooting with a large aperture may only put part of what you are trying to focus on, in focus. Like a nose will be in focus, but the eyes won’t. Check your shots, and adjust your aperture accordingly.
- AP (aperture priority) mode is a great mode to shoot pictures of children in, I almost always take pictures of kids in this mode. It is easy to switch apertures quickly, versus manually adjusting everything in manual mode.
The Challenge:
Use your camera’s aperture priority mode to experiment with different apertures. Take a picture with a large aperture, and try taking the same picture with a small aperture.
Need inspiration? Since February is the month of love, try finding something pink or red to take a picture of.
Come back next Tuesday to link up and share your example of aperture.
If you have more questions about aperture, or even your camera, please feel free to ask any questions in the comments. They will all be answered!
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