Aperture (Dun Dun Dun)

I chose to explain aperture last because it is the last photography concept of the bunch that I came to understand. I’m not sure why it was so hard for me, but I went for months only shooting on shutter speed priority because I just couldn’t understand what aperture was or how to use it. Then one day everything kind of clicked for me! Hopefully reading this post will help you have that “A-ha!” moment as well.

What is aperture?
You’re going to have to work hard to stay with me on this one because there are several different terms I’m going to have to use to explain this concept. Just like the other concepts, aperture has to do with light (photography is all about light if you haven’t realized it by now). First I’ll show you the part of your camera that is affected when you change the aperture.

Ignore the numbers for a second, we will come back to those.

See that little circular thing? It’s called a diaphragm. The width of that opening determines your aperture. Except it all gets very confusing because a BIGGER opening means a SMALLER aperture. This is what kept me so confused for so long. I just couldn’t remember the bigger/smaller thing. If you keep reading I’ll teach you the phrase that helped me remember how it works. :)

{Short Courses}

Aperture, like everything else, is all about light. Having the opening very small lets in less light. Having it very big let’s in lots of light. Now look at the picture above again. See the numbers? Those are the measurements of the aperture, and they are called F-STOPS. If I start with f/1.4 and then change to f/2.8 I have gone up by two stops.

So when a photographer tells you they take their picture on f/1.4, they are telling you that they took the picture with the diaphragm wide open to let lot’s of light in. Jasmine Starr, one of my favorite photographers, has said many times that she shoots “wide open”, and she is saying that she likes to shoot somewhere around f/1.4.

So do you understand what aperture is now? It’s the size of the opening of the diaphragm.

What does aperture do for my pictures?
Aperture affects the depth of field. Depth of field, is quite simply, the portion of a scene that appears sharp in an image.

This photo of the lovely Lavani illustrates a very shallow depth of field. See how only her bindi is in focus?

A photo with all parts in focus has a very large depth of field.

My little dwarf friend is back one more time (plus a few friends) to help you see aperture in action. I started out by arranging my subjects so that they were going to be varying distances away from me. If they were all lined up in the same “field” together, I would be able to have no depth of field. Does that make sense? You will see in a second.

I started out with a very small aperture. f/22

An aperture of f/22 has a very great depth of field, so all the things in my photo are in focus.

Then I stopped down all the way to f/4.0. Can you see how the bear that is farthest away from me is now out of focus? This photo has a shallower depth of field than the one above.

Next I stopped down as far as my lens would go, to f/1.4. See how only the dwarf is in focus?

Now I’ll teach you the trick that helped me to remember how aperture works.

A smaller number will have less in focus. (As seen in the photo below where aperture is set at f/1.4)

Isn’t that super easy to remember? So when you are out taking picture of a squirrel, and you want just the squirrel to be in focus you can think “I should take my aperture down to f/2.8 so that I can have just the squirrel in focus and not the entire tree he is sitting in!”

Smaller number = less in focus. Shazam!

Shallow depth of field is really fun because you can do pictures like this! The two bears are in focus because they are both on the same plane.

Or this. Doesn’t the dwarf look kind of annoyed by the two kissing bears in the corner? :)

The dwarf is a great subject to use to illustrate depth of field because he is so multidimensional. I was able to take a picture with just his hands and shoulders in focus.

And another with just his face in focus (I love his cute little button nose!)

To be clear, aperture is not depth of field, it merely affects what the depth of field is in a photo.

Aperture, out of all of these concepts, is the one where you most need a dSLR to manipulate it. I took these photos with a lens that has an aperture range of f/1.4-f/22, which is something that a point and shoot just can’t have.

——————————————-

I hope that this week of very basic explanations has helped inspire you to start experimenting with your photos a little bit more. I encourage you to practice, practice, practice, because that is how I came to understand them like I do. I spent so many hours laying on my tummy taking still photos of food and other objects around the house for my blog posts, and over time I began to better understand how ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed work together to create beautiful, well-lit photographs.

I recommend starting with still life shots in the same lighting conditions. Learn how to take pictures of things using the three concepts (ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed) all in the same light. Then move to a different lighting condition and practice there. Over time you will slowly be able to jump from place to place, taking picture with varying shutter speeds, ISO settings, and different depths of field.

Then the day will come that you find yourself shooting exclusively on manual because you like having the power to take the photographs you want to take, not what the camera tells you to take. It’s a wonderful feeling!