To learn how to make beautiful and, just as importantly, high-quality images, you need to know the fundamental parts of photography. What if you want to concentrate the viewer's attention on a certain section of the photo? And what is a camera aperture? These are some of the questions that aspiring photographers ask.
What is the aperture of the camera?
Everything is simple and complicated at the same time. The camera’s diaphragm is a small rounded hole made up of several petals and located inside the camera’s lens. Aperture adjustment can be done manually or automatically. But many mistakenly believe that the aperture and shutter are the same. But these are completely different parts of the camera. The shutter is a shutter that is located next to the matrix, and the aperture is located in the lens.
The effect of the aperture on the photo
It should highlight:
- The brightness of the colors in the photo. The degree of illumination and color depth in the image depends on the degree of aperture opening.
- The quality of the resulting photo. The larger the diameter of the hole, the more edge rays enter the lens. On the other hand, too small a diameter is undesirable due to diffraction of light. Both effects negatively affect the resulting image, reducing its contrast.
How does it work
To better understand the principle of the shutter, you can give an ordinary household example. When a person looks at the sun, he squints his eyes to reduce the amount of light received. At night, everything happens the other way around. A person opens his eyes as much as possible, and the pupils dilate to capture as much light as possible.
Approximately the same principle works and the diaphragm of your camera. When you press the shutter button on the camera, the hole opens and the light passes to the photosensitive matrix of your camera. The worse the lighting, the more the hole should be opened.
Structure
With what a diaphragm is, it should be clear. Now you need to deal with its structure. The diaphragm device consists of three special devices: iris, jumping and repeater.
In the traditional version, the iris is a shutter through which a stream of light easily passes. It is formed by subtle details made of metal and similar to petals. They are located around the lens rim, shifting to the center, thereby increasing or decreasing the light flux. With a maximum open diaphragm, a round hole is formed, with a partially open a polygon. The larger the hole is open, the more light will receive the photosensitive matrix of the camera. Aperture adjustment can be done either manually or automatically.
You can adjust the aperture manually using the ring on the outer surface of the lens barrel. On it you can see a series of numbers. To change the degree of aperture opening, you need to rotate the ring. Then the petals will either move or move apart.
The better the aperture of the lens, the more metal petals it will have. This is a pattern. All this makes up the iris diaphragm of each camera.
Jumping aperture is a control system that is used in most modern SLR cameras. It closes the aperture to the previously set f-stage when you press the shutter button. This is convenient in that the aperture allows you to sight and establish accurate focusing before the shot.
Aperture repeater is a mechanism in the form of a button or lever, with which you can close the aperture before taking a picture of the object. It is used to check depth and sharpness before shooting. Usually the button is located near the lens.
Differences between aperture of SLR and digital cameras
First, more precise aperture settings are available in the SLR camera.
Secondly, SLR cameras allow you to set a faster lens.
Thirdly, in digital cameras a smaller degree of regulation of the diameter of the hole.
Fourthly, the mirror unit has a function for manually adjusting the aperture.
Aperture and shutter speed relationship
The shutter “decides” when the photosensitive camera sensor is open or closed to the light stream. Exposure, in turn, decides how long the sensor will open. In other words, this is the time interval during which rays of light fall on the photosensitive part of the camera. The unit of exposure is milliseconds and seconds. It is designated as: 1/200. But in the camera settings themselves, only the denominator of the fraction will be displayed. If the shutter speed is more than a second, it is indicated by an ordinary number. That is, if the shutter speed is 3 seconds, then this number will be on the screen.
The shutter speed and aperture in the complex make up an expopair. And it is these two components that are decisive for exposure. In this regard, the diaphragm is responsible for the amount of light received, and shutter speed for the time interval.
Automatic tuning, as a rule, combines shutter speed and aperture in two versions:
- Large diameter and high shutter speed.
- Small aperture size and, accordingly, low shutter speed.
When setting the shutter speed and aperture, you yourself need to know what result you will get with certain settings. There are several exposure settings that can help you use it correctly:
- From 1 to 30 seconds or more. Suitable for taking pictures at night or in low light.
- 2 to 1/2 seconds. It will give smoothness to running water or soften outlines when shooting the landscape of any locality.
- 1/2 to 1/30 of a second. Suitable for photographing a moving subject. In this case, the image will have a blurred background. It means shooting without a tripod, but using stabilization.
- 1/50 to 1/1000 of a second. The usual shooting with hand, but without a strong increase.
- 1/250 to 1/500 second. Photographing a moving object. Perhaps without a tripod and with a large increase.
- From 1/1000 to 1/40000 seconds. Stops a fast moving object.
Manual Aperture
The main difficulty for novice photographers when considering how to adjust the aperture is the inverse of the hole. Changing the diameter of the hole affects several aspects of photography at once - aperture ratio and depth of field. Aperture - the largest amount of light received by the matrix through the hole. The photographer needs to be able to select the required hole size to obtain high-quality photos. Sharpness refers to the distance from the camera between the near and far boundaries, in which the objects are in focus. Depth of field is distributed from the center to the edges of the image. Thus, the closer to the edge, the more the object will be blurred.
The aperture is denoted by the letter f. The number written after the letter is its value. But the proportion is inversely proportional. The smaller the number, the larger the diameter of the aperture. For example, after the letter F there is a number 1.4. In this case, the aperture of the camera is wide open. If the number is 16, then the diaphragm is opened minimally.
What is really happening with numbers? If you need to reduce the amount of luminous flux, then the hole will become less than exactly half. The diameter in this case changes 1.41 times. The aperture values are directly related to the diameter of the hole, therefore, in the resulting series of numbers, each subsequent number is 1.4 times larger than the previous one.
What is DOF
Before choosing a diaphragm, you need to find out what the depth of field is. This is an important aspect of any professional photography. This abbreviation is understood as the depth of the sharply depicted space. In other words, the depth of field is the place in the photo where the object will look as clear and sharp as possible.
This option allows you to focus on the desired subject in the picture. Also distract your eyes from secondary objects.
Aperture Priority Mode
In the camera menu, you can find letters such as A or Av. They are the ones that designate this aperture mode. In it you can configure its parameters yourself. The ability to use this mode will save time, because you do not have to turn on the menu every time in search of the desired shooting mode. Shutter speed will be adjusted depending on the selected aperture.
Also in the menu you can find the mode indicated by the letter M. This is a manual or manual settings mode. In this mode, you will need to independently choose the opening parameters of the hole and shutter speed.
Aperture selection
Before you start taking pictures, you need to select the required diameter of the aperture. Here, for many beginners, the question arises - how to choose the appropriate degree of aperture opening? In fact, there are no clearly fixed rules, but there are some well-established values:
- f / 1.4. Commonly used in low light conditions. But with such an aperture setting, the depth of field will be very small. Therefore, if you want to create a soft focus or for photographing medium-sized objects, it is better to opt for it.
- f / 1.2. The scope is approximately the same as with the previous diaphragm. However, a lens with such an aperture is more affordable.
- f / 2.8. Also used to take pictures in low light conditions. But such an aperture is usually used for portraits. All sharpness of the photo will be focused on the face.
- f / 4. Minimum aperture setting for photographing objects in normal lighting conditions.
- f / 5.6. Commonly used when there is more than one subject in the picture. If there are several objects in the photo, then the focus will be on them, and the background will remain blurred. The same thing will happen with one object in the photo. In case of poor illumination, it is better to use additional lighting. For example, a flash.
- f / 8. It is used for shooting a large number of people, as it provides the necessary depth of field.
- f / 11. This degree of disclosure is highly sharpened. This quality makes it the most suitable for portraiture.
- f / 16. With this degree of opening, the pictures are deeply sharp. Therefore, it is well suited for photo shoots in bright sunlight.
- f / 22. You need to stop the choice on such an aperture if you are creating a photograph of a large space with many details. For example, panel shots of the city, a crowd of people or landscapes. In such photographs, there will be no clear emphasis on certain small details.
Aperture Setting Modes
Portrait mode. The camera selects the smallest hole diameter that is possible under the given conditions. This results in the smallest possible depth of field.
Landscape. The camera selects the largest degree of aperture opening. Thus providing the greatest depth of field. Some cameras set the focus distance to infinity.
Sports. The camera sets the most affordable shutter speed. Ideally, this is 1/250 seconds or even shorter. A minimum f-stage is also used.
Night. Preference is given to slow shutter speeds. Some cameras use a foreground light, i.e. a flash.
Aperture Tips
As with the choice of aperture, and when setting it, there are no clearly established rules. Everything will depend on the specific situation, the level of lighting, personal expectations and the need for visual effects of the photo. But there are some tips that may help:
- Image sharpness is achieved using average aperture values. If you select a large value, the photos will be brighter and more saturated.
- If the photo is taken at night, the aperture must be clamped, and the shutter speed increased.
- An open aperture is best for portrait photography. If it occurs in nature or against the background of other objects, then you need to give preference to an average or closed diaphragm. If you want to focus not only on the main subject, but also on the surroundings, use a closed aperture.
- When shooting a city, it is recommended to close the aperture as much as possible.
- To achieve a great depth of field when shooting a natural landscape, use f / 16 aperture. If the image does not suit you, then try f / 11 or f / 8.
- With a group portrait shot, you do not need to open the aperture too much. It is likely that one face will be sharp and the other blurry.
- It is important to consider the distance between the subject and the background. If the background is too close to the object being photographed, then it can fall into the zone of sharpness, because of which it will not be blurred. If you want the background to be blurry, try to make the maximum distance between the object and the background.
You should now have a clear idea of what aperture is. This knowledge should help in creating images that will fully satisfy your requirements. Thanks to this device, the photographer himself chooses what to focus on in the picture, and where is the viewer's gaze better to look away.