Joe Lydon
New member
I will keep this simple as possible. I am not a professional photographer, but I will try and explain things in a way that I have come to understand.
Aperture - This controls light and depth of field.
1. Aperture and light control - Lenses are a barrel with a hole on each end. Light comes in one side and goes out the other. The f/# explains the ratio between the two. For example a lens with an aperture value of f/1 would have a 1:1 size ratio between the forward and rear hole. This controls the amount of light to enter the camera at any given shutter speed. A lens with an aperture value of f/3.5 will have a smaller forward hole for light to pass through, this will obviously restrict light at any given shutter speed. The smaller the front hole gets, the less light will come through. Makes sense, right? Keep in mind, the values are inverted. Larger f/# like f/16 means smaller hole and less light, lower f/# like f/1.2 means larger hole and more light and often allows you to shoot photos in any given situation, without a flash. Any change between these increments represents a 50% reduction or addition to the available light. f/1.8 allows twice as much light as f/2.2, etc.
2. Aperture and depth of field - Depth of field is the focal plane that your lens will include in your shot. For example: Have you seen those photos that include a very detailed subject and everything behind is blurred out? It is easily achieved by choosing your depth of field. There are two ways to control depth of field, one being aperture. The larger your aperture, the narrower your depth of field will be. Example f/1.2, the depth of field, or focal plane can be so narrow as having someone's nose focused, but their eyes and ears out of focus. The smaller your aperture, the larger your depth of field grows. For example f/16 or smaller is great for landscape photography where you need the tree at 20yrds, river at 200yrds and mountain at 2000yrds to be all in focus. Like I said, aperture is one way to control your depth of field. The other method of control is your distance to subject. The closer you are to the subject, the smaller your focal plane becomes. The more distance you put between yourself and what you are shooting, the larger your focal plane becomes. This is useful in helping to understand why that 50mm f/1.2 lense won't single out the subject that is 10yrds away.
Lenses with wide apertures aka "fast lenses" command more money because they cost more to manufacture and give you the most usability. Most consumer "kit" lenses will generally come with apertures in the f/3.5-5.6 range, which are perfectly Ok in situations where lighting is adequate.
Shutter speed - This will control the sharpness of your photo and along with aperture, the amount of light available to your camera. DSLR cameras usually have a setting between 15 seconds down to 1/8000 of a second. 15 second shutter speed means that the shutter is open and allowing light to come in for 15 seconds. Any movement from the camera or subject will cause blur. Long shutter speeds require a tripod . The camera "records" what it sees while the shutter is open and lays it all into a still photo. 1/8000 second shutter speed is just that, opens and closes faster than you can comprehend. This allows very little light to pass through, and will be a very dark photo unless there is a considerable amount of light in the frame. It will also freeze whateverit saw in that 1/8000 second. This is how you get a clear photo of a hummingbird's wings in mid flight. I generally shoot without a tripod and shutter speeds between 1/30 up to 1/500 if it's really sunny. Anything outside that range is for trick photography.
You have to find a balance in what you are trying to achieve in your photo. You balance it with aperture and shutter speed.
ISO setting is your cameras sensitivity to light. Lower ISO decreases the sensitivity and a higher ISO increases it. Think of it how your eyes work. In the dark, our "ISO" is greatly increased, so we can see better in the dark. When someone flips the light switch on, it's irritating because our eyes are sensitive to the light. Luckily, our eyes have auto ISO and adjust accordingly. Cameras have this feature as well. On the down side, increasing a camera's ISO also increases image grain which degrades image quality. My rule of thumb is to never shoot over 800 ISO. You should be adjusting your aperture and shutter speed to create the lighting you need.
Lastly, buy a good external flash. It will allow you even more control with your aperture and shutter speed settings because you won't be limited to the available light.
Aperture - This controls light and depth of field.
1. Aperture and light control - Lenses are a barrel with a hole on each end. Light comes in one side and goes out the other. The f/# explains the ratio between the two. For example a lens with an aperture value of f/1 would have a 1:1 size ratio between the forward and rear hole. This controls the amount of light to enter the camera at any given shutter speed. A lens with an aperture value of f/3.5 will have a smaller forward hole for light to pass through, this will obviously restrict light at any given shutter speed. The smaller the front hole gets, the less light will come through. Makes sense, right? Keep in mind, the values are inverted. Larger f/# like f/16 means smaller hole and less light, lower f/# like f/1.2 means larger hole and more light and often allows you to shoot photos in any given situation, without a flash. Any change between these increments represents a 50% reduction or addition to the available light. f/1.8 allows twice as much light as f/2.2, etc.
2. Aperture and depth of field - Depth of field is the focal plane that your lens will include in your shot. For example: Have you seen those photos that include a very detailed subject and everything behind is blurred out? It is easily achieved by choosing your depth of field. There are two ways to control depth of field, one being aperture. The larger your aperture, the narrower your depth of field will be. Example f/1.2, the depth of field, or focal plane can be so narrow as having someone's nose focused, but their eyes and ears out of focus. The smaller your aperture, the larger your depth of field grows. For example f/16 or smaller is great for landscape photography where you need the tree at 20yrds, river at 200yrds and mountain at 2000yrds to be all in focus. Like I said, aperture is one way to control your depth of field. The other method of control is your distance to subject. The closer you are to the subject, the smaller your focal plane becomes. The more distance you put between yourself and what you are shooting, the larger your focal plane becomes. This is useful in helping to understand why that 50mm f/1.2 lense won't single out the subject that is 10yrds away.
Lenses with wide apertures aka "fast lenses" command more money because they cost more to manufacture and give you the most usability. Most consumer "kit" lenses will generally come with apertures in the f/3.5-5.6 range, which are perfectly Ok in situations where lighting is adequate.
Shutter speed - This will control the sharpness of your photo and along with aperture, the amount of light available to your camera. DSLR cameras usually have a setting between 15 seconds down to 1/8000 of a second. 15 second shutter speed means that the shutter is open and allowing light to come in for 15 seconds. Any movement from the camera or subject will cause blur. Long shutter speeds require a tripod . The camera "records" what it sees while the shutter is open and lays it all into a still photo. 1/8000 second shutter speed is just that, opens and closes faster than you can comprehend. This allows very little light to pass through, and will be a very dark photo unless there is a considerable amount of light in the frame. It will also freeze whateverit saw in that 1/8000 second. This is how you get a clear photo of a hummingbird's wings in mid flight. I generally shoot without a tripod and shutter speeds between 1/30 up to 1/500 if it's really sunny. Anything outside that range is for trick photography.
You have to find a balance in what you are trying to achieve in your photo. You balance it with aperture and shutter speed.
ISO setting is your cameras sensitivity to light. Lower ISO decreases the sensitivity and a higher ISO increases it. Think of it how your eyes work. In the dark, our "ISO" is greatly increased, so we can see better in the dark. When someone flips the light switch on, it's irritating because our eyes are sensitive to the light. Luckily, our eyes have auto ISO and adjust accordingly. Cameras have this feature as well. On the down side, increasing a camera's ISO also increases image grain which degrades image quality. My rule of thumb is to never shoot over 800 ISO. You should be adjusting your aperture and shutter speed to create the lighting you need.
Lastly, buy a good external flash. It will allow you even more control with your aperture and shutter speed settings because you won't be limited to the available light.
