Apertures

Last lesson, we learnt about changing the aperture setting on a camera, what this can do to your photographs and how it can effect the outcome of what you're wanting whoever views the photograph to focus on. The aperture is the little hole in a camera that lets in light, therefore the size of the aperture can be adjusted to allow more or less light in, using the F stop settings. F stop 22 is usually the smallest, whereas F3.5 is the largest. Changing the amount of light you let into a photograph effects it's depth of field, which is the amount of focus in a photograph. Large apertures enable small/thin depths of field, while small apertures enable large depths of field. F3.5 means that only the foreground is in focus, F9-11 means that the foreground and the midground can be in focus, and F22 enables the foreground, midground and the background to be in focus. Increasing the F stop setting decreases the amount of light that can get into the camera, so longer shutter speeds are needed, and the camera must be still. (Tripods become essential). Decreasing the F stop allows more light in, so high F stops are good for bright lighting conditions. The camera must be set on manual focus and the person using the camera must make sure they focus it themselves before taking the photograph.

This photograph was taking on an F stop setting of 4.5. It shows that the foreground is in focus, while the midground and the background are out of focus.

This photograph was taken on a F stop setting of around 25, which enables the foreground, midground and the background to be in focus, so the person viewing the photograph is able to see everything in the picture properly.