Class Lecture on Aperture (Basic Photography)

1. Aperture

2. Prae-Lectio: Aperture
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Concept of Aperture
Exposure Triangle
What is an aperture
Depth of Field

3. What is an aperture
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Aperture Ring
The aperture is the hole
(opening) in the lens that
the light passes through.
Apertures available depend
on the lens, and are usually
changed by rotating a collar
on the lens close to the
camera.
Aperture is the lower ring,
the focusing ring is the
upper.
The larger the aperture
number, the smaller the
hole and so the less light
can get through.

4. Aperture
- Achieving the correct exposure is a lot like
collecting rain in a bucket. While the rate of
rainfall is uncontrollable, three factors
remain under your control: the bucket's
width, the duration you leave it in the rain,
and the quantity of rain you want to collect.
- You just need to ensure you don't collect
too little ("underexposed"), but that you
also don't collect too much ("overexposed").
- The key is that there are many different
combinations of width, time and quantity
that will achieve this.

5. How the Aperture Works

6. Exposure Triangle

7. Aperture

8. Aperture Stops

9. How to Set Your Aperture

10. Desired Opening

11. Apertures

12. Depth of Field
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One of the powerful tools of your
lens is the Depth of Field, it can be
used to keep things sharp and also
isolate something from the
background.
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Take this image as an example, I
captured it at a tire "graveyard”. The
picture really was about a lonely
flower among all the tires. This frame
was shot at f/11 but at this aperture it
was really hard to see the flower. In
fact, it was almost hard to make out
what I was looking at.

13. Depth of Field
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In this picture I opened up wide to f/2.4. Notice how the flower in the
foreground now are jumping out of the image while it is still possible to
see the tires in the background, but now the tires are more of texture and
support to the flower.

14. Depth of Field
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The aperture controls the “depth of
field” in the photograph. When you
focus on a particular point, all points
that distance from the camera are in
focus. Points closer and further away
may also be in focus, depending upon
the aperture. At narrow apertures, more
of a scene is in focus, useful in a
landscape where you want the
foreground and background in focus. On
the other hand, when taking a portrait,
using a wide aperture will put the
distracting background out of focus,
isolating and emphasizing your subject.

15. Depth of Field
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Less Depth of Field: With the
lens focused on the side of the
bench, the aperture of f/1.4
throws just about everything
else out of focus. Notice the
benches in the distance and
the plant in the bottom left
corner. A wide aperture is
often used in portraiture or
whenever a subject needs to
stand out from its
surroundings.
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Lots of Depth of Field: An
aperture of f/16 results in
everything being in focus.
Narrow apertures are often
used in landscapes to make
everything from the
foreground to the sky in focus.

16. Aperture Table (f stops)
Aperture
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Remarks
Wide, very little depth of field, some are out focus, with
emphasis on something
2.8
4
5.6
8
11
16
22
Narrow, lots of depth of field, almost all are in focus

17. Apertures

18. Depth of Field
A small aperture provided this image with
plenty of depth of field, using ISO 400.

19. Play of Light and Shadow
A small aperture provided this image with
plenty of depth of field, using ISO 400.

20. Aperture: Depth of Field

21. Repetitio: Aperture
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Concept: A bucket of water
Control the entry of light
Higher Number – smaller aperture
Depth of Field
Smaller aperture – more depth of field