Exposure 101: Part 1
The Aperture (or f/stop)
The Aperture (or f/stop)
Before we dive straight into the features and functions of your camera, we need to lay the groundwork of how a camera takes a picture. Every camera has 2 components that create the picture: the aperture (or f/stop) and the shutter speed. Understanding how these 2 components work together will help you to use the features of your camera, which will help you to get the shot you want. Let's start with the functions of the aperture.
The aperture is a hole in your lens that controls two aspects: 1. How much light is coming through the lens, and 2. How clear the focus will be before and after your subject.
The first aspect is fairly straightforward: The lower the number, the more light you're letting come through the lens. Think of the aperture like the pupil of your eye. A low number f/stop, (i.e. f/2.8) lets more light through the lens, a dilated pupil, than any higher f/stop number. As the f/stop number goes up, less and less light is allowed through the lens, a small pupil.
The second aspect is more about creative control. Though the camera will focus on the subject to make it clear, the aperture controls what else in the entire scene will be clear or blurred-out. A low number f/stop will blur the foreground and background. As the f/stop number increases, the amount of clarity before and after your subject will increase as well. In photography, this amount of clarity is referred to as depth-of-field. Low number f/stops will blur the background, (shallow depth-of-field.) Maximum depth-of-field is achieved at the highest f/stop number of your camera. All the f/stops between the minimum and maximum will give you varying degrees of clarity throughout your photograph.
Keep in mind that changing the f/stop will control the amount of light through the lens and the amount of depth-of-field at the same time. Low number f/stops let in more light and have shallow depth-of-field. Higher f/stop numbers let in less light and have more depth-of-field.
The aperture is one half of how your camera takes a picture. Check back soon for the next installment: the Shutter Speed!
The aperture is a hole in your lens that controls two aspects: 1. How much light is coming through the lens, and 2. How clear the focus will be before and after your subject.
The first aspect is fairly straightforward: The lower the number, the more light you're letting come through the lens. Think of the aperture like the pupil of your eye. A low number f/stop, (i.e. f/2.8) lets more light through the lens, a dilated pupil, than any higher f/stop number. As the f/stop number goes up, less and less light is allowed through the lens, a small pupil.
The second aspect is more about creative control. Though the camera will focus on the subject to make it clear, the aperture controls what else in the entire scene will be clear or blurred-out. A low number f/stop will blur the foreground and background. As the f/stop number increases, the amount of clarity before and after your subject will increase as well. In photography, this amount of clarity is referred to as depth-of-field. Low number f/stops will blur the background, (shallow depth-of-field.) Maximum depth-of-field is achieved at the highest f/stop number of your camera. All the f/stops between the minimum and maximum will give you varying degrees of clarity throughout your photograph.
Keep in mind that changing the f/stop will control the amount of light through the lens and the amount of depth-of-field at the same time. Low number f/stops let in more light and have shallow depth-of-field. Higher f/stop numbers let in less light and have more depth-of-field.
The aperture is one half of how your camera takes a picture. Check back soon for the next installment: the Shutter Speed!
Very nice - I am listening. i want to learn to take good pictures.
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda!
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