![]() ![]() Now let’s take a look at a few examples of shots taken at an f-stop of 2.8. It depends on the look you’re going for, and it’s always worth experimenting with different options that way, you can come away with some wonderfully unique photos. Landscape photographers don’t always use a narrow depth of field, while portrait photographers don’t always use a shallow depth of field. That said, there are no hard and fast rules for depth of field. This scene wouldn’t be interesting without a wide aperture: The blurred effect keeps the subject sharp while making the background soft–and this really makes the subject pop off the page. Portrait photographers and some macro photographers, on the other hand, love shallow depth of field. Here’s a scene that benefited from a narrow aperture: Narrow apertures are commonly used by landscape and architecture photographers, because their photos need front-to-back sharpness in order to show the entire scene. Note that there’s nothing wrong with using a narrow aperture, and there’s nothing wrong with using a wide aperture, either (or anything in between). ![]() While a narrow aperture, such as f/16, will often give you a shot that’s sharp throughout. Because the wider the aperture, the less that will be rendered sharp. Whereas an image like this has a very deep depth of field, because it’s basically sharp throughout:īy choosing different f-stops, you can produce different depth of field effects.Ī wide aperture, such as f/2.8, is going to give you a shallow depth of field. So an image like this has a very shallow depth of field, because most of the shot is blurry: The depth of field refers to how much of an image is actually sharp. ![]() It also affects the depth of field: Depth Of Field But it is commonly used, and certainly one that you should have in your arsenal.īut aperture doesn’t just affect the exposure. Note that there are other variables that also affect exposure (shutter speed and ISO), so aperture/f-stop isn’t the only way to brighten or darken a photo. That way, the photo will be brightened, and they’ll create well-exposed images. If the photo is looking too dark, they can widen the aperture by dialing in a lower f-stop. So photographers use different apertures to control the exposure of their images. While a narrower aperture lets in very little light, creating a darker photo. The f-stop that you choose directly affects the exposure (overall brightness) of your photos.īecause a wide aperture (such as one at f-stop 2.8) lets in a lot of light, creating a brighter photo. A low-numbered f-stop (for example, f/1.8) locks in a very wide aperture, which lets in a lot of light a high-numbered f-stop (for example, f/22) locks in a very narrow aperture, which lets in very little light. It produces a very shallow depth of field–so that pictures taken with an f-stop 2.8 have an intensely blurred background, like this: F-Stop ExplainedĪ camera’s f-stop corresponds to the size of a lens’s aperture–that is, the size of the hole in the lens that lets in light.į-stops are generally written like this: f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, etc., and can span a range from around f/1.2 to f/32 (though there are some lenses that allow for even more extreme apertures).Īs you change the f-stop on your camera, the aperture changes with it. Using the same exposure settings and the same lens, if our subject walks a few more meters away from us, the perceived depth of field will increase and more of their face will be in sharp focus.An f-stop of 2.8, also written as f/2.8, corresponds to a wide aperture. When using a fast aperture and photographing people standing close to the camera, it’s important to focus on the eyes to ensure that they’re in sharp focus. For example, if you’re photographing a person standing a few meters away using a lens like the Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens with the aperture wide open, only a small part of their face will be within the depth of field, meaning that maybe only their eyes will be in sharp focus and the rest of their face will be softly blurred. The farther away you are from your subject, the greater the depth of field will appear to be in your photo. With the subject’s eyes in sharp focus, areas that are outside the field of focus appear softer, so wrinkles and other skin blemishes are less noticeable. Since the field of focus is very narrow when using a fast aperture setting, a shallow depth of field is often preferred for things like portrait photography. By shooting “wide open” using a fast aperture, distracting foreground and background elements can become soft blurs that no longer divert attention away from the subject of your photo. A shallow depth of field can help to draw attention to the area of the photo that is in sharp focus.
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