Aperture Made Easy Part 2 - Free Chart

Ask for your free aperture chart ( see chart below) by emailing me at mariwilbur@gmail.com. It will help you tremendously in understanding how to fine tune your photography no matter what type of camera you use! 

Aperture is the size of the opening in your camera lens. You or your camera, depending on what setting you use, can change the size of the opening. 

Think of being in a dark room. Your pupil will be wide open to let in more light.  Go out doors on a sunny day and your pupil narrows letting less light in.

Like the pupil of your eye, the opening in your camera lens can open and close to let more or less light in.

This is important information to understand no matter what type camera you use from Point & Shoot to dSLR.

In the 3 color photos below notice the f-stop under each photo. Also notice how much of the photo is in sharp focus vs. how much is blurred. This is called depth of field and will be discussed in my next post.

f/6.3

On a dSLR camera, you can control the aperture size in several ways.

You can let the camera make the aperture choice for you by using your various automatic modes. Or you can choose the aperture setting by shooting in manual mode or using aperture priority mode.

Aperture settings are called f-stops. F-stops are numbers that relate to how wide open or how narrow your lens opening is. This means how much or how little light is entering your camera. F-stops typically run from f/2 to f/16. See chart at bottom of post.

f/5.6

F-stops are a bit confusing at first. But remember that a large f-stop (where lots of light enters your lens) is a smaller number. A small f-stop (where less light enters your lens) is a larger number. Aperture = f-stop.

Keep reading – it get’s less confusing, I promise.

f/3.4

Remember: Lower number aperture like f/1.4 = more light.

Remember: Higher number aperture like f/8 = less light.

 

So, in the image below, f/1.4 is open (“wide”) and is letting more light in and f/8 is small (“narrow”) and letting less light in to your camera’s sensor. 1.4 is a lower number than 8. 2.8 is a lower number than 8. 8 is a lower number than 16 or 22. See chart below and at bottom of post.

Choosing the correct aperture, f-stop:

Since the f-stop determines how much light gets into your lens to your sensor, if the OPENING is large (like f/2) lots of light gets in and if the OPENING is smaller (like f/16) little light gets in.

SEE CHART BELOW.

Remember: Lower number aperture like f/2    = more light.

Remember: Higher number aperture like f/16 = less light.

See chart below - 

In my next post I will discuss why aperture, or f-stop, is so important. I’ll also give you tips on which f-stops to use for various lighting situations. 

Next time we will also start discussing how shutter speed and ISO tie into f-stop/aperture.

Read this post over a few times. Digest it, memorize the f-stop configurations, it’s not difficult. Really…..honest!

Here's a link to my post Introduction to Aperture . Give it a quick read as a refresher. 

Ask me any questions regarding aperture in your comment box. 

Also, feel free to post a photo of your own for all of us to share. Click the + sign in the lower left corner of your open comment box to upload a photo. Click on uploaded thumbnail to enlarge for viewing. If you see a photo in a comment box, be sure and visit that person’s blog and leave a comment – we all appreciate those. Your photo can be of anything that strikes your fancy.

Now - go email me at mariwilbur@gmail.com and ask for your free Aperture Charts - you'll receive both of these as handy reference guides. Print them and keep them in your camera bag. 

Happy clicking!