Lesson 2: Aperture Exercise

Date: 22 February 2013

This week, we learned about camera apertures. An aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. It controls the amount of light entering the lens, and also affects the depth of field (DOF).

A wide aperture has a small f number and gives a shallow DOF (less clarity). More light enters the lens.

A small aperture has a large f number and gives a great DOF (more clarity). Less light enters the lens.

This are the f stops that we learned about:

This is what an (5 blade) aperture looks like:

When do we use a wide aperture, and when do we use a small aperture? This might help:

Here are the exercises we conducted to examine how an aperture affects our photographs.

For the first one, we maintained the ISO and shutter speed (ISO 100, 1/400"), only to manipulate the f number, from one stop to another. Here are the results in chronological order:

f/2.0

f/2.8

f/4

f/5.6

f/8

f/11

f/16

f/22

Here is the second part of the exercise, with exposure compensation for the f numbers. We used the metering feature to determine the correct exposure. It was cloudy that day, so the lighting was a bit of a let down. Although the pictures look similar, the clarity for each image gradually increases after each f stop.

f/2 • 1/500" • ISO 100

f/2.8 • 1/250" • ISO 100

f/4 • 1/125" • ISO 100

f/5.6 • 1/160" • ISO 200

f/8 • 1/60" • ISO 200

f/11 • 1/60" • ISO 400

f/16 • 1/60" • ISO 800

f/22 • 1/30 • ISO 800

— Hidayah