What is Aperture?

Photographer:Al Jurina

In order to begin making better photos, it is important to understand how to control your camera better. Today's Q&A centers on attempting to help us define a key component in photography: Aperture.

Aperture can be defined as the opening in the lens of your camera that allows the light to pass through. In certain camera modes, you can control this aperture to be more open or closed, depending on the kinds of images that you want to make.

Aperture is measured in what some would find to be a cryptic series of numbers called "F-Stops". These f-stops identify how open or closed the aperture is in your lens.  The smaller the f-stop number, the wider the aperture opening (f/1.8 is wider than f/5.6)

The more open your aperture, the more light your camera has to "see" in darker situations. However, the open aperture also affects the depth-of-field in a photo. By choosing a wider aperture, it becomes easier to create images in which the background goes out of focus, because the depth-of-field is shallower when the aperture is wider. Many portrait photographers shoot with lenses that allow them to use apertures as wide as f/1.8, f/1.4, or even f/1.2. Not all lenses are the same, and in some cases, a point-and-shoot camera may have an aperture that is limited to an f-stop of 3.5 and smaller. This is because it can be expensive for manufacturers to produce lenses with wider apertures such as f/1.8.

In contrast, for photographs where you would like everything to be in sharp focus, such as a landscape photo, shooting at a narrower aperture, such as f/8 or f/16, will give you a deeper depth-of-field. However, the trade-off is light. Narrower apertures allow less light to get into the camera, and this can make difficult to get deep depth-of-field in every lighting situation.

In a future post, we will talk more specifically on how to get certain types of shots using manual and aperture priority modes on your camera. However, until then, be sure to check your camera manual on how and if you can control your camera aperture and start experimenting! 

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