AYWMC: Part 1 Technical, Lesson 2: Aperture

 This post is part of a series entitled A Year With My Camera.

 

Lesson 1.2 in my own words:

• Aperture - adjustable opening of the camera lens that can be made larger or smaller. 
• One of three ways the camera controls the amount of light entering the camera and hitting the sensor
• The technical aspect of aperture is controlling the amount of light
• larger opening = more light
• smaller opening = less light
• The creative aspect of aperture is controlling the depth of field
• Depth of field - how much of the image is acceptably sharp to the eye
• a large depth of field needs a small aperture
• a small depth of field needs a large aperture (eg. a sharp object with blurred background)
• In the auto and program modes, the camera chooses aperture.
• In the aperture priority mode (Av or aperture value), the photographer chooses aperture, and the camera chooses the shutter speed.
• Aperture + shutter speed + ISO create the exposure to take the photograph.
• Aperture settings are called f-numbers or f-stops.
• smallest number = largest size
• largest number = smallest size

This week's project:

1. Find and write down the name of your lens: 15-45mm

2. Find and write down the highest and lowest aperture for your lens: 

• at 15mm: f3.5 & f22
• at 45mm: f6.3 & f40

3. Take 2 photos which are exactly the same except for the aperture. Take one photo with your camera's largest aperture, and one with the camera's smallest aperture.

largest aperture

smallest aperture

What I learned:

I now have a basic working knowledge of what aperture is and what it does. What's a little confusing is that the largest aperture has the smallest f-number; kind of counterintuitive. Hmm, how to remember? Well, a completely open aperture looks like a big O (oh) or 0 (zero). So, the f-numbers closest to zero indicate the larger openings. As the aperture gets smaller, the numbers move further away from zero. That may not make sense to anyone else, but it works for me!