skip to main | skip to sidebar

PHOTOGRAPHER ON CLICK

Pages

  • Home
 
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Youtube
/*
    • Adobe Photoshop
    • Adobe After Effects
    • Adobe Acrobat X Suite
    • Adobe Premiere Pro
    • Adobe Dreamweaver
    • Adobe Sound Booth
    • Powerpoint
    • Excel
    • Words
Tuesday, 27 March 2012

What is Aperture in Photography ?

Posted by PHOTOGRAPHER ON CLICK at 00:06 – 0 comments
 
Aperture refers to an adjustable opening in your camera lens that is able to limit the amount of light passing through the lens and hitting the camera sensor. Just think of it like your eyes. When you open your eyes, light enters through your cornea, and is bent through the pupil, which is a round opening in the center of the iris. The iris and pupil works exactly like the aperture of a camera, controlling the amount of light being emitted.
To control your camera’s aperture, switch your camera mode to aperture priority. In this mode, you are able to manually control your camera’s aperture. The camera will change the shutter speed automatically to match the aperture that you had selected to create a picture that is properly exposed when the shutter release button is clicked.
Aperture is measured in F-stops. The lower the F-stop (e.g. f/2.8), the wider the opening of the aperture. While the higher the F-stop (e.g. f/22), the smaller the opening of the aperture. This concept can be confusing for beginners to understand as it is counter intuitive. However, it should not be too hard to understand once we know exactly what aperture is and how it affects the outcome of your pictures.
When the aperture is wide open (e.g. f/2.8), more light will enter through the camera’s lens, therefore, less time is required for proper exposure which meant faster shutter speeds. Wide aperture will also cause a shallow depth of field in your picture, where the foreground and background of your picture is blurred except for the subject which you are focusing on. However, the opposite applies when the aperture is small.

When the aperture is small (e.g. f/22), less light will enter through the camera’s lens, therefore, more time is required for proper exposure which meant slower shutter speeds. Small aperture will also cause a deep depth of field in your picture, where everything in the picture is in focus.
Wide aperture (e.g. f/2.8) is useful for taking pictures in low light conditions as more light gets to enter and hit the camera’s sensor. It allows you to use faster shutter speeds as well that can be used to freeze action on moving subjects such as a running dog. It is also suitable to use when you want to take portraits or macros where you want a shallow depth of field so that the subject will be sharp and stand out in your picture.
Small aperture (e.g. f/22) is useful for taking pictures in good light conditions as there is more than enough light that will enter and hit the camera’s sensor. It allows you to use slower shutter speeds which can be used to give your subjects a motion effect in your picture. Remember the running dog example? We can use slower shutter speed to create a motion effect of the dog, running in your picture, bringing your picture to live.

A small aperture is also suitable to use when you want to take landscapes or group shots so that everything in the scene is considerably sharp.



Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook

Leave a Reply

Newer Post Older Post
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
  • Popular
  • Recent
  • Archives

Popular Posts

  • Stunning Waterfall Photography
    Waterfalls are beautiful but technically difficult to photograph. Discover how to master the technical and creative aspects of waterfall pho...
  • 8 Factors to Consider when Choosing a DSLR
    Here are a few factors to consider when looking for a DSLR: 1. Price – a good place to start when thinking about buying a DSLR is obviou...
  • Rule of Thirds
    What is the Rule of Thirds? The rule of thirds involves mentally dividing up your image using 2 horizontal lines and 2 vertical lines, as...
  • Introduction To Shutter Speed in Digital Photography
    What is Shutter Speed? – shutter speed is ‘the amount of time that the shutter is open’. In film photography it was the length of time that ...
  • Shutter Speed: A Beginner's Guide
    Shutter speed is 1 of the 3 elements (along with aperture and ISO speed) that determine a photo's exposure. It also controls how sharp ...
  • How to photography Silhouettes in 8 Easy Steps
    I normally talk about the importance of using a flash when taking shots into the sun to give sufficient light to add features to your subjec...
  • Camera Types
    These are all film cameras but none the less some of the same features exist on digital cameras.  For more than several decades the box came...
  • 5 Keys to Finding the Perfect Portrait Location
    One of the most important aspects of portrait photography is picking a suitable location. Your choice will drive all other decisions about ...

Archives

  • ▼  2012 (17)
    • ►  May (13)
    • ▼  March (4)
      • Introduction To Shutter Speed in Digital Photography
      • What is Aperture in Photography ?
      • ISO Settings in Digital Photography
      • Metering in Photography
 

ChitChat


Shooters

people on DSLR
 
 
© 2012 PHOTOGRAPHER ON CLICK | Designs by SCCT & 2043

Bloggerized by PhotographyClass - PhotographyClass