Aperture in Photography {Tips}

As promised, I thought I would start writing & organizing some content to provide insight on photography, how-to’s, business, resources, etc. Today’s post is in response to a question asked on Facebook concerning depth of field, aka aperture. Chris sent the following:

“I have been trying to get some new pictures of our staff here at NHBC. I have in mind that we use a brick wall or some outdoor shot. I really like the effect of the background being out of focus and the person in the foreground being sharply in focus, giving a bit of depth to the picture. The…re’s a guy in the church that does a lot of photography and has been trying to get me what I want, but it isn’t working out. He keeps trying to take pics of us, cut us out, and place us in another pic that he took as a background and has blurred. He does this in Photoshop, but it really doesn’t look good. I’ve seen this effect on many of your photos (i.e. – “The Roberts” pics on your blog) and it looks incredible. Is there anything I can do to get this effect with my Canon digital SLR? I only have the one lens that can with it (18-55, I think). Any tips would be much appreciated!”

On a side note, you should’ve seen me trying to make this movie to explain the contents of this post. Tragic! This is much more challenging than I thought. As a lesson in humility I thought I would leave it up & let you watch (the picture below links to my YouTube video). A bit of a glitch in the first 2-3 seconds but it clears up afterward.

What is an Aperture? Depending on what you are wanting to capture affects what aperture you choose. Simply put, aperture is a term that describes how wide or narrow the lens opens. This affects what part of the image stays in focus. It almost deals exclusively with your lens not your camera body. Many people, when referring to aperture, use the term depth-of-field.  In short, if you want very little to be in focus, with the exception of the subject, you want a big aperture (low number… f/1.2, 2.0, etc.). In contrast, if you want everything to be equally in focus, you are looking for a small aperture (high number… f/16, 20, etc.). You will be limited to how wide & narrow of an aperture you can shoot by your lens. I made the statement in the video, “Generally speaking, the wider the aperture, the more expensive the lens will be.” That’s not necessarily the case; I clarify. Yet, the wider the aperture, the more flexibility you have over your images. I’ll show a few select images for further clarification.

Consider these images of Isabelle, you’ll see the focus is on her eyes & the rest of the focus falls apart, blurring as it moves away from her eyes. That blur is called “Bokeh.” This was shot at the widest aperture my lens allows, f/1.2. {ISO 500, 50mm, f/1.2, 1/250sec}

Same here in this pic of my son, Brennan. Specs {ISO 1500, 50mm, f/1.2, 1/250sec}

In shots with more than one person, I generally try to get everyone on the same plane & shoot with as wide an aperture as possible. Yet, you must be careful as you want everyone to be in focus. Specs {ISO 800, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/500 sec}.

Another example from the same wedding. Specs {ISO 400, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/640 sec}

In contrast, in this picture I was shooting an interior for a magazine. For these types of shots, I want everything to be in focus… as clean & sharp as possible. My aperture, therefore, is as narrow as I could achieve. Specs {ISO 200, 24mm, f/22, 5.0 sec}

Is this starting to make sense? The more narrow the aperture, the more things will be in focus in the image. If you want to achieve a “bokeh” effect, you may want to invest in a lens that allows a wider aperture (lower number).

A few links explaining aperture in further detail:

• The Pioneer Woman: http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/. Scroll down to the right & you’ll see the heading “Read this Series”. She’s done an incredible job with her four part series “What the Heck is an Aperture?” Excellent resource!
• Darren Rowse {Digital Photography School}: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/aperture

A few lens resources I mentioned in my video:

• Canon 50mm 1.8: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/12142-USA/Canon_2514A002_Normal_EF_50mm_f_1_8.html/BI/7571_/KBID/8097
• Canon 50mm 1.4: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/12140-USA/Canon_2515A003_50mm_f_1_4_USM_Autofocus.html /BI/7571_/KBID/8097
• Nikon 50mm 1.4: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/585343-USA/Nikon_2180_AF_S_Nikkor_50mm_f_1_4G.html /BI/7571_/KBID/8097

Hope that helps friends… let me know what you think. Comment like you mean it!! If you have further questions, I’ll try to answer as soon as I can. Thanks!