Mastering aperture puts you into a lot better position in the field of photography. The magic of photography lies behind aperture, and if you master aperture after mastering shutter-speed, you are one step closer of becoming a good photographer.
So, what is aperture?
Speaking most simply, "Aperture is the opening in the lens of the camera". When the shutter is pressed, a hole opens up, which lets the light to come into the sensor, and the image is captured. You can control the size of the hole by setting the aperture.
We usually measure aperture by "F-stops". They are written as f/number. Like f/2.2, f/2.8, f/4, f/4.5, f/6, f/8, f/11, f/22 etc.
The thing that creates confusion is that large apertures (letting a lot of light into camera) are assigned lower f-numbers, like f/4; and smaller apertures are assigned higher f-numbers, like f/22. Which forces, that f/22 is a much smaller aperture than f/4.
Depth of field: DOF implies how much of your shot will be in focus, and how much will be out of focus.
The image on the left has the yellow sterns in focus, and the petals are out of focus. This is what we call a shallow depth of field. The image on the right has everything in focus; it has a much higher depth of field.
Aperture has a profound impact on DOF. Larger apertures (smaller F-numbers, remember!) will decrease DOF, and smaller apertures (higher F-numbers) will increase DOF.
Take the above two pictures for example. The left one was shot with f/4.5, which gave it a shallow DOF, and the image on the right was shot with f/22, which gave it a much larger DOF.
This whole aperture + f-number + Depth Of Field scenario creates a lot of confusion; I myself get confused sometimes. The easy way to remember the dependance of DOF upon aperture is to remember this line:
"HIGHER F-NUMBER MEANS HIGHER DEPTH-OF-FIELD, AND LOWER F-NUMBER MEANS SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD". Remember this line, and you're done.
My photos:
See how the background is out of focus in the F/4.5 shot, and is in focus in F/8 shot.
So, what is aperture?
Speaking most simply, "Aperture is the opening in the lens of the camera". When the shutter is pressed, a hole opens up, which lets the light to come into the sensor, and the image is captured. You can control the size of the hole by setting the aperture.
We usually measure aperture by "F-stops". They are written as f/number. Like f/2.2, f/2.8, f/4, f/4.5, f/6, f/8, f/11, f/22 etc.
The thing that creates confusion is that large apertures (letting a lot of light into camera) are assigned lower f-numbers, like f/4; and smaller apertures are assigned higher f-numbers, like f/22. Which forces, that f/22 is a much smaller aperture than f/4.
Depth of field: DOF implies how much of your shot will be in focus, and how much will be out of focus.
 |
| f/4.5 |
 |
| f/22 (Flickr) |
The image on the left has the yellow sterns in focus, and the petals are out of focus. This is what we call a shallow depth of field. The image on the right has everything in focus; it has a much higher depth of field.
Aperture has a profound impact on DOF. Larger apertures (smaller F-numbers, remember!) will decrease DOF, and smaller apertures (higher F-numbers) will increase DOF.
Take the above two pictures for example. The left one was shot with f/4.5, which gave it a shallow DOF, and the image on the right was shot with f/22, which gave it a much larger DOF.
This whole aperture + f-number + Depth Of Field scenario creates a lot of confusion; I myself get confused sometimes. The easy way to remember the dependance of DOF upon aperture is to remember this line:
"HIGHER F-NUMBER MEANS HIGHER DEPTH-OF-FIELD, AND LOWER F-NUMBER MEANS SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD". Remember this line, and you're done.
My photos:
 |
| F/4.5 |
 |
| F/8 |
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