I was out taking pictures couple of days ago in a field of wildflowers when I saw this bug unfortunately I was able to snap one photo before it decided I was scary and it should find a safer place. This photo isn't something I would generally consider a keeper and probably wouldn't make the cut at home on the virtual light box but it made me to start thinking about when I first got into photography. Back then I was using a an old hand me down Minolta X700 film camera and at that time I was mostly P mode shoot first ask questions later and it was apparent. After waiting a lifetime to get my finished slides back in the mail I would usually be disappointed with the results. It was sometime in that early point of my photography I decided to learn about light and how it affects images. This is the first step for being a successful photographer. With todays camera you could skip this step, set the camera to Program mode and snap away and get some good photos which is fine, but if you want master the craft and make ordinary images into great photographs that people ohh and ahh, taking the time to learn light and how it affects you images is critical. Today we will scratch the surface of aperture. The goal of this mini lesson will be for you to take your camera out of P mode and switch it to A mode so you can have more creative control over you final image. The way I thought about the relationship of aperture and shutter speed when I was still grasping to understand the concept is below.
Lets assume a gallon of water is the perfect exposure when filled
Now we take 8 different lids to that gallon jug and poke holes in them of different sizes to match the aperture diagram above. When you place the f1.4 lid on the gallon and fill the gallon jug under the faucet it will fill up the fastest of all the lids. The time it takes to fill the gallon is your exposure and the water is your light. Pop on that lid that represents f16 and you will still fill it but you will be at the faucet a lot longer than with the f1.4 lid. This is aperture at the basic level, your end result will the same. You still have a gallon jug (exposure) with the same amount of water (light) how long it takes you to fill it up (Shutter speed) is based on how big the hole is in your lid (aperture). Whew that was a mouthful, below are two common facts to help in your aperture selection
- larger aperture (larger hole your gallon fills faster) - you will have a faster shutter speed which is good for low light, fast moving objects and smaller area in focus which is good for isolating you subject.
- Smaller aperture (Smaller hole your gallon fills slower) - you will have a slower shutter speed which is good for making water (motion) blur, larger area in focus used for landscape and macro photography
Photo Examples
Photo 1 Details
- Aperture- f4
- Shutter Speed- 1/640th
Same photo as above with out the shy bug, notice the area of focus is on the center of the flower and it quickly falls off as you move to the back petals because flooding the light with a large aperture and fast shutter speeds makes for a smaller area of focus. The two things about this shot that I like is the large aperture makes the focus on the important part of the flower and the back ground is nice and creamy making the flower stand out as the main subject.
Photo 2 Details
- Aperture- f5.6
- Shutter Speed- 1/320th
Same photo but now we have moved up one stop to a smaller aperture. Notice by doing so the shutter speed has moved down one stop slower. The area of focus is still on the center of the flower but the back petals have a little more focus than the image at f4. Notice that the background is still creamy but you can clearly see some definition starting to occur. This image is very acceptable and depending who you ask may be better than the first.
Photo 3 Details
- Aperture- f10
- Shutter Speed- 1/100th
We have moved up yet another stop to a smaller aperture of f10. Notice by doing so the shutter speed has moved down even slower. The area of focus is still on the center of the flower but all the petals have a lot more focus than the image at f5.6. The stem in this photo is nice and sharp. The background has lost a lot of its creaminess and you can start to see lines and hot spots. This background is starting to become busy and is beginning to distract from the main subject.
Photo 4 Details
- Aperture- f16
- Shutter Speed- 1/40th
In this photo we have moved up to an even smaller aperture of f16 notice by doing so the shutter speed has moved down even slower. At this aperture the whole flower is in very nice sharp focus but the background has become very busy and you can start to see individual blades of grass and other flowers. This image is very distracting and not pleasing to the eye at all.
Conclusion
There are many more considerations to take in into account before pressing the shutter button like ISO sensitivity, hyper focal distance, reciprocity failure and to many more to name but that's for another time. Now with just this basic aperture knowledge you can have creative control over the photos you take. Want more of the image in focus- switch to A mode bump up you aperture! Want to make a nice portrait of your Aunt Bertha switch to A mode move to aperture down and focus on here beautiful eyes for a nice portrait with a creamy background! Want to make that waterfall blur into a smooth silky sexy flow- switch to A mode and bump that aperture up to get a nice slow shutter speed (Yes waterfalls can be sexy)!
I hope you enjoyed this #photolesson and find it useful, let me know if you have any questions and please be sure to share your results by using this knowledge in the field. Let me know if there is anything else you would like a lesson on and I will work to put it together!!
