March 25, 2013

Aperture

You have this nice DSLR camera and don’t know what things mean or know how to use it? We’re here to help! If there’s a way to help others take better pictures of their family’s every day life and quickly growing kids, we’re here to help you understand what things mean.

We won’t get too technical in our blog posts. We remember going to a photography class at a community college when we were starting off, and we may have left more confused than anything. We’ll describe it how we understand it…. known as the super dummie version. 😉 For the aspiring photogs, we tell everyone this: knowing how to use your camera is the most important thing. Try to get that great image straight out of the camera by shooting in manual! This will reduce time in post processing, and let’s face it Photoshop can’t fix everything!

Today’s blog post is about aperture (which is measured in f/stops). Aperture is one of the 3 important elements to know on how to get that great image out of your camera. We will go over ISO and shutter speed in our next blog posts (so watch for it!) You know that really creamy blurry background you see in images that photographers take? That is caused by the camera (changing your aperture) not photoshop (most often)!

Important info #1: The higher the f/stop number, the clearer the background. The lower the f/stop number, the blurrier the background. {see example below}

As you can see above, I focused on the bow. The higher the f/stop number, the clearer the bookcase, fireplace, and even the tray gets.

Here’s another example above. The higher the f/stop number, the clearer the background gets (crib, blanket, Lennon’s shirt).
Something to keep in mind…. When photographing families especially large families, make sure your f/stop is high enough so everyone is focused!

Important info #2: The higher the f/stop, the darker the image gets. The lower the f/stop, the brighter the image gets. {see example below} In the example below, we have the ISO and shutter speed the same while only changing the aperture. Therefore, you will need to adjust your exposure/shutter speed as needed to get the right look.

Now grab that camera and the manual that came with your camera. Put your camera knob on that dreadful “M.” Scary thought we know, but that’s how you’re going to learn! It’s kind of like riding a bike, taking off the training wheels is flippin scary, but it needs to be done to learn how to ride that bike. Since everyone has different types of cameras, you will have to go through your manual to figure out how to change the f/stops on your camera.

Here’s a chart below to look back on and reference! {a great chart to “pin” on your pinterest board}