So what on earth is an aper - thingy???!!!

Ok, its not as scary as its sounds - actually its quite simple to understand once its been explained.

The aperture is the adjustable "pupil" of the camera. It determines how much light passes through the lens. To represent aperture we use the term F-Stops or F-numbers which will look like this: F8, F16, f4.6, etc.

The aperture also determines your depth of field (DOF) - the amount your picture blurs in front of and behind your focused subject. The larger your aperture (smaller F-number) the more the background will be out of focus - great for portraits but not so much for landscapes, where you will need a smaller aperture (larger F-Number) to get your surroundings in focus.

Remember: The larger the F-stop numbers, the smaller the opening (thus, smaller aperture) and the less light admitted.

Note: If you are using a larger aperture (ie smaller F-number) for landscape photography, you will need to extend your shutter speed to allow in more light.

Here's a visual representation



See? Not so bad was it!! OK, so this is aperture in its simplest form and there is much more we could go into, but this should be enough to get you on your way!

For Reference

Smaller/larger

Smaller aperture = larger F number
Larger aperture = smaller F number

More/Less Light

Smaller aperture = larger F number = less light admitted (note, longer exposure time may be required)
Larger aperture = smaller F number = more light admitted

Wide/Narrow Depth of Field (More/less in focus)

Smaller aperture = larger F number = less light admitted = wider depth of field (more in focus)
Larger aperture = smaller F number = more light admitted = narrow depth of field (less in focus)

Higher/Lower F-stops

Smaller aperture = larger F number = higher F-stop (so "go up a stop" means user a smaller aperture)
Larger aperture = smaller F number = lower F-stop (so "drop down a stop" means use a larger aperture)

thanks. My photography lessons from my art degree(eons ago) are beginning to re-emerge from the depths of the grey matter...Keep going!

Thanks K, that actually makes sense to me (no I haven't been drinking ) I've seen those F things and wondered what on earth they were, now I know, I'll have to see if I can change what the camera does automatically, and see the results, I think I'm going to be busy tomorrow :rolleyes:

Oooooh im glad im making sense to people!!

Thanks for that KK, it's good to read it in Laymans terms

Thanks K - That makes more sense than my camera manuals explanation!

LOL It does look scary when you start going into all the other details but TBH for your average photographer doesnt need to know any more! LOL

Thanks just figured out how to change the aperture after reading that

Excellent this is the type of information I need. Reading manuals makes no sense whatsoever! Thanks.
Becky