Understanding aperture values is one of the most important aspects of photography. The aperture will determine how much light your lens will let in during the exposure (taking a picture) and also plays a major role in depth of field. Depth of field essentially means how much of the picture is in sharp focus from the closest item to your camera, to the furthest away item from your camera. Depth of field is very important because sometimes you may want deeper depth of field; for example, taking a picture of someone in front of a building where you want both the person and the building to be in focus. Other times you may want a shallow depth of field; for example, when you want to take a picture of a flower and have everything in the background out of focus. In order to understand how you can manipulate your depth of field, you must first understand aperture values.
What is aperture? Aperture is defined as 1. an adjustable opening in an optical instrument, such as a camera, that limits the amount of light passing through a lens. The diameter of such an opening is often expressed as an f-number. You’ve probably seen values like f/3.5 – f/5.6 on your lens, or heard people talking about f-stops. Well hang in there and I’ll explain what all those numbers mean…once you wrap your head around the concept, its really not that complicated. First you need to see what the f-stop values are for you to better understand the numbers.
Each one of these numbers represents a full-stop. So moving from an f/1.4 to an f/1.6 is a full-stop, and moving from an f/8 to an f/9 is also a full stop. Each time you move a full stop the light let in changes significantly. The smaller the f-number the more light is let in, the larger the f-number the less light is let in. In addition to the amount of light being let in, don’t forget about depth of field. The smaller the f-number, the shallower the depth of field, the larger the f-number the deeper the depth of field. You can always stop down the aperture to let in less light, so any lens can be stopped down to f/22. However, going the other direction in order to let more light in is a different story. Most consumer level lenses will have a maximum (widest open) aperture of f/3.5. Professional level lenses typically have a maximum aperture value of f/2.8 or lower and will be much more expensive than consumer lenses. This is why professional photographers can shoot indoors with no flash and still have enough light for a proper exposure. With most consumer level SLR cameras and lenses you'll need a flash to give you enough light in a moderate to dimly lit room.
While you continue to learn, try shooting in aperture priority and experimenting with depth of field. While in aperture priority your camera will select the shutter speed in order to (or try to) properly expose the picture…so all you have to worry about is adjusting your aperture values. In the next tip we’ll talk about shutter speed!
Become a fan of Nexis Photography on Facebook!
Post comments to let us know if these tips are helpful to you...and feel free to ask any questions you may have!
-M&L
Kristina and Jacob's Wedding was BEAUTIFUL! We loved the venue that they chose for their ceremony and reception. The ceremony was at First Baptist Church which is very ornate and was just gorgeous inside and out. The reception was at Sturdivant Hall, which was equally impressive. We were almost overwhelmed with the number of great backdrops for photos...and wish we would have had more time to take pictures all day...but of course, getting Kristina and Jacob married was the #1 priority. Kristina and Jacob, we really enjoyed being a part of your wedding day, and you two were just awesome to work with. We had alot of fun! Check out the slideshow of some of our favorites above...and all of your photos are online in your gallery. You can access your gallery by going to www.nexisphotography.com and clicking on "Client Proofing" then looking for your gallery. Hope you LOVE them!
