tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63404220103586435262024-03-07T19:16:20.089-08:00PHOTOGRAPHY FOCUSEDAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12744257957159967239noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6340422010358643526.post-91747288527355083672016-07-23T10:04:00.006-07:002016-07-23T10:14:35.526-07:00Understanding Aperture – A Beginner’s Guide<h1 class="entry-title">
</h1>
<div class="entry-meta">
<time class="entry-time" datetime="2009-12-19T23:22:16-07:00" itemprop="datePublished">July 24, 2016</time></div>
<div class="entry-meta">
<br /></div>
Aperture is one of the three pillars of photography, the other two being <a href="http://photographyfocused.blogspot.com/2016/07/understanding-iso-beginners-guide.html">ISO</a> and Shutter Speed. Without a doubt, it is the most talked about subject, because aperture either adds a dimension to a photograph by <b>blurring the background</b>,
or magically brings everything in focus. In this article, I will try to
explain everything I know about aperture in very simple language.<br />
<span id="more-5122"></span><br />
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_5370" style="width: 970px;">
<a class="cboxElement" href="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20080329-Barr-Lake-State-Park-046.jpg" rel="lightbox[5122]" title="American Robin"><img alt="American Robin" class="lazy size-medium wp-image-5370" data-lazy-src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20080329-Barr-Lake-State-Park-046-960x638.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20080329-Barr-Lake-State-Park-046-960x638.jpg 960w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20080329-Barr-Lake-State-Park-046-300x199.jpg 300w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20080329-Barr-Lake-State-Park-046-768x510.jpg 768w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20080329-Barr-Lake-State-Park-046-650x432.jpg 650w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20080329-Barr-Lake-State-Park-046.jpg 1024w" data-lazy-type="image" height="425" src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20080329-Barr-Lake-State-Park-046-960x638.jpg" title="American Robin" width="640" /></a><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text">
NIKON D300 @ 340mm, ISO 200, 1/320, f/5.6</div>
</div>
Before reading any further, I highly recommend reading about <b>what a DSLR camera consists of</b>.<br />
<h3>
1) What is Aperture?</h3>
Simply
put, aperture is a hole within a lens, through which light travels into
the camera body. It is easier to understand the concept if you just
think about our eyes. Every camera that we know of today is designed
like human eyes. The cornea in our eyes is like the front element of a
lens – it gathers all external light, then bends it and passes it to the
iris. Depending on the amount of light, the iris can either expand or
shrink, controlling the size of the pupil, which is a hole that lets the
light pass further into the eye. The pupil is essentially what we refer
to as <b>aperture</b> in photography. The amount of light
that enters the retina (which works just like the camera sensor), is
limited to the size of the pupil – the larger the pupil, the more light
enters the retina.<br />
So, the easiest way to remember aperture, is by
associating it with your pupil. Large pupil size equals large aperture,
while small pupil size equals small aperture.<br />
<h3>
2) Size of Aperture – Large vs Small Aperture</h3>
The
iris of the lens that controls the size (diameter) of the aperture is
called “diaphragm” in optics. The sole purpose of the diaphragm is to
block or stop all light, with the exception of the light that goes
through the aperture. In photography, aperture is expressed in f-numbers
(for example f/5.6). These f-numbers that are known as “f-stops” are a
way of describing the size of the aperture, or how open or closed the
aperture is. A smaller f-stop means a larger aperture, while a larger
f-stop means a smaller aperture. Most people find this awkward, since we
are used to having larger numbers represent larger values, but not in
this case. For example, f/1.4 is larger than f/2.0 and much larger than
f/8.0.<br />
Take a look at this chart (image courtesy of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aperture_diagram.svg" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a>):<br />
<img alt="F-numbers" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-89483" data-lazy-src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Aperture-f-Number.png" data-lazy-srcset="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Aperture-f-Number.png 960w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Aperture-f-Number-300x120.png 300w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Aperture-f-Number-768x306.png 768w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Aperture-f-Number-650x259.png 650w" data-lazy-type="image" height="255" src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Aperture-f-Number.png" width="640" /><br />
The size of the circle represents the size of the lens aperture – the larger the f-number, the smaller the aperture.<br />
<h3>
3) <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="what-is-depth-of-field">What is Depth of Field?</a></h3>
One important thing to remember here, the size of the aperture has a direct impact on the <b>depth of field</b>,
which is the area of the image that appears sharp. A large f-number
such as f/32, (which means a smaller aperture) will bring all foreground
and background objects in focus, while a small f-number such as f/1.4
will isolate the foreground from the background by making the foreground
objects sharp and the background<b> blurry</b>.<br />
<a class="cboxElement" href="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Depth-of-Field.jpg" rel="lightbox[5122]" title="Depth of Field"><img alt="Depth of Field" class="lazy aligncenter size-medium wp-image-5368" data-lazy-src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Depth-of-Field-960x319.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Depth-of-Field-960x319.jpg 960w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Depth-of-Field-300x100.jpg 300w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Depth-of-Field-768x255.jpg 768w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Depth-of-Field-650x216.jpg 650w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Depth-of-Field.jpg 1000w" data-lazy-type="image" height="212" src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Depth-of-Field-960x319.jpg" title="Depth of Field" width="640" /></a><br />
As
you can see, just changing the aperture from f/2.8 to f/8.0 has a big
effect on how much of WALL-E is in focus and how visible the background
gets. If I had used a much smaller aperture such as f/32 in this shot,
the background would be as visible as WALL-E.<br />
Another example:<br />
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_5366" style="width: 970px;">
<a class="cboxElement" href="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20091030-Boulder-558.jpg" rel="lightbox[5122]" title="Mailboxes"><img alt="Mailboxes" class="lazy size-medium wp-image-5366" data-lazy-src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20091030-Boulder-558-960x638.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20091030-Boulder-558-960x638.jpg 960w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20091030-Boulder-558-300x200.jpg 300w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20091030-Boulder-558-768x511.jpg 768w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20091030-Boulder-558-650x432.jpg 650w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20091030-Boulder-558.jpg 1024w" data-lazy-type="image" height="425" src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20091030-Boulder-558-960x638.jpg" title="Mailboxes" width="640" /></a><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text">
NIKON D700 @ 48mm, ISO 200, 1/1600, f/2.8</div>
</div>
In
the above example, due to the shallow depth of field, only the word
“Cougar” appears sharp, while everything else in the front and behind of
that word is blurred. If I had used a larger aperture such as f/1.4 and
focused on one of the letters, probably only that letter would have
been sharp, while everything else would have been blurred out. The
larger the aperture, the smaller the area in focus (depth of field).<br />
<h3>
4) Lens Apertures: Maximum and Minimum</h3>
Every
lens has a limit on how large or how small the aperture can get. If you
take a look at the specifications of your lens, it should say what the
maximum (lowest f-number) and minimum apertures (highest f-number) of
your lens are. The maximum aperture of the lens is much more important
than the minimum, because it shows the speed of the lens. A lens that
has an aperture of f/1.2 or f/1.4 as the maximum aperture is considered
to be a fast lens, because it can pass through more light than, for
example, a lens with a maximum aperture of f/4.0. That’s why lenses with
large apertures are better suited for low light photography.<br />
The
minimum aperture is not that important, because almost all modern lenses
can provide at least f/16 as the minimum aperture, which is typically
more than enough for everyday photography needs.<br />
<a class="cboxElement" href="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Nikon-50mm-f1.4-AF-S.jpg" rel="lightbox[5122]" title="Nikon 50mm f1.4 AF-S"><img alt="Nikon 50mm f1.4 AF-S" class="lazy aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-5367" data-lazy-src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Nikon-50mm-f1.4-AF-S-300x255.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Nikon-50mm-f1.4-AF-S-300x255.jpg 300w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Nikon-50mm-f1.4-AF-S-650x553.jpg 650w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Nikon-50mm-f1.4-AF-S.jpg 700w" data-lazy-type="image" height="255" src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Nikon-50mm-f1.4-AF-S-300x255.jpg" title="Nikon 50mm f1.4 AF-S" width="300" /></a><br />
There
are two types of lenses: “fixed” (also known as “prime”) and “zoom”.
While zoom lenses give you the flexibility to zoom in and out (most
point and shoot cameras have zoom lenses) without having to move closer
or away from the subject, fixed or prime lenses only have one focal
length. Due to the complexity of optical design for zoom lenses, many of
the consumer lenses have variable apertures. What it means, is that
when you are fully zoomed out, the aperture is one number, while zooming
in will increase the f-number to a higher number. For example, the
Nikon 18-200mm lens has a variable maximum aperture of f/3.5-f/5.6. When
zoomed fully out at 18mm, the lens has an aperture of f/3.5, while when
fully zoomed in at 200mm, the lens has an aperture of f/5.6. The heavy,
professional zoom lenses, on the other hand, typically have fixed
apertures. For example, the <a href="https://photographylife.com/reviews/nikon-70-200mm-f2-8g-vr-ii">Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8</a> lens has the same maximum aperture of f/2.8 at all focal lengths between 70mm and 200mm.<br />
<br />
Why
is this important? Because larger maximum aperture means that the lens
can pass through more light, and hence, your camera can capture images
faster in low-light situations. Having a larger maximum aperture also
means better ability to isolate subjects from the background.<br />
If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please post them in the comments section below.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12744257957159967239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6340422010358643526.post-71776124033327427642016-07-23T09:58:00.001-07:002016-07-23T10:13:13.487-07:00Understanding ISO – A Beginner’s Guide<h1 class="entry-title">
</h1>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><time class="entry-time" datetime="2009-12-15T20:10:19-07:00" itemprop="datePublished">July 23, 2016</time> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It is challenging to <b>take good pictures</b>
without a good understanding of how ISO works and what it does. Camera
ISO is one of the three pillars of photography (the other two being <b>Aperture</b> and <b>Shutter Speed</b>)
and every photographer should thoroughly understand it, to get the most
out of their equipment. Since this article is for beginners in
photography, I will try to explain ISO as simple as I can.</span><br />
<div class="entry-content" itemprop="text">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="more-5115"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Before we go any further, you should first understand <b>how DSLR cameras work</b>.</span><br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1) What is ISO?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In
very basic terms, ISO is the level of sensitivity of your camera to
available light. The lower the ISO number, the less sensitive it is to
the light, while a higher ISO number increases the sensitivity of your
camera. The component within your camera that can change sensitivity is
called “image sensor” or simply “sensor”. It is the most important (and
most expensive) part of a camera and it is responsible for gathering
light and transforming it into an image. With increased sensitivity,
your camera sensor can capture images in low-light environments without
having to use a flash. But higher sensitivity comes at an expense – it
adds grain or “noise” to the pictures.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Take a look at the following picture (click to open a larger version):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="ISO 200 and ISO 3200 Comparison" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-5145" data-lazy-src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ISO-200-and-ISO-3200.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ISO-200-and-ISO-3200.jpg 800w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ISO-200-and-ISO-3200-300x100.jpg 300w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ISO-200-and-ISO-3200-768x255.jpg 768w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ISO-200-and-ISO-3200-650x216.jpg 650w" data-lazy-type="image" height="212" src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ISO-200-and-ISO-3200.jpg" title="ISO 200 and ISO 3200 Comparison" width="640" /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
difference is clear – the image on the right hand side at ISO 3200 has a
lot more noise in it, than the one on the left at ISO 200.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Every camera has something called “<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="base-iso">Base ISO</a>“,
which is typically the lowest ISO number of the sensor that can produce
the highest image quality, without adding noise to the picture. On most
of the new Nikon cameras such as Nikon D5100, the base ISO is typically
200, while most Canon digital cameras have the base ISO of 100. So,
optimally, <b>you should always try to stick to the base ISO to get the highest image quality</b>. However, it is not always possible to do so, especially when working in low-light conditions.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Typically,
ISO numbers start from 100-200 (Base ISO) and increment in value in
geometric progression (power of two). So, the ISO sequence is: 100, 200,
400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400 and etc. The important thing to understand,
is that each step between the numbers effectively <b>doubles</b>
the sensitivity of the sensor. So, ISO 200 is twice more sensitive than
ISO 100, while ISO 400 is twice more sensitive than ISO 200. This makes
ISO 400 four times more sensitive to light than ISO 100, and ISO 1600
sixteen times more sensitive to light than ISO 100, so on and so forth.
What does it mean when a sensor is sixteen times more sensitive to
light? It means that it needs sixteen times less time to capture an
image!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">ISO Speed Example:<br /> ISO 100 – 1 second<br /> ISO 200 – 1/2 of a second<br /> ISO 400 – 1/4 of a second<br /> ISO 800 – 1/8 of a second<br /> ISO 1600 – 1/16 of a second<br /> ISO 3200 – 1/32 of a second</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In
the above ISO Speed Example, if your camera sensor needed exactly 1
second to capture a scene at ISO 100, simply by switching to ISO 800,
you can capture the same scene at 1/8th of a second or at 125
milliseconds! That can mean a world of difference in photography, since
it can help to freeze motion.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Take a look at this picture:</span><br />
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_39993" style="width: 510px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Black Skimmers" class="lazy size-full wp-image-39993" data-lazy-src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Black-Skimmers.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Black-Skimmers.jpg 500w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Black-Skimmers-200x300.jpg 200w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Black-Skimmers-433x650.jpg 433w" data-lazy-type="image" height="750" src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Black-Skimmers.jpg" title="Black Skimmers" width="500" /></span><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">NIKON D700 @ 420mm, ISO 800, 1/2000, f/5.6</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I
captured these Black Skimmers at 1/2000th of a second at ISO 800. My
camera sensor only needed 1/2000th of a second to fully capture this
photograph. Now what would have happened if I had ISO 100 on my camera
instead? My sensor would have needed 8 times more time to capture the
same scene, which is 1/250th of a second. At that speed, I would have
introduced motion blur into my picture, because the birds were moving
faster than that. In short, I would have ruined the picture.</span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2) When to use low ISO</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As
I’ve said above, you should always try to stick to the lowest ISO (base
ISO) of your camera, which is typically ISO 100 or 200, whenever
possible. When there is plenty of light, you should always use the
lowest ISO, to retain the most detail and to have the highest image
quality. There are some cases where you might want to use low ISO in dim
or dark environments – for example, if you have your camera mounted on a
tripod or sitting on a flat surface. In that case, bear in mind that
your camera will most likely need more time to capture the scene and
anything that is moving is probably going to look like a ghost.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Oh No! It's a GHOST ATTACK!" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-5151" data-lazy-src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20071231-New-Year-071.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20071231-New-Year-071.jpg 800w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20071231-New-Year-071-300x199.jpg 300w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20071231-New-Year-071-768x510.jpg 768w, https://photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20071231-New-Year-071-650x431.jpg 650w" data-lazy-type="image" height="424" src="https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20071231-New-Year-071.jpg" title="Oh No! It's a GHOST ATTACK!" width="640" /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Just
kidding, of course! That’s my lovely nephew being the subject of my
long exposure test. I set the camera to the lowest ISO to retain the
detail, which also resulted in a long exposure of 5 seconds. My nephew
sat still, while my friend stepped in for a brief moment to introduce
the ghost :)</span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">3) When to increase ISO</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You should increase
the ISO when there is not enough light for the camera to be able to
quickly capture an image. Anytime I shoot indoors without a flash, I set
my ISO to a higher number to be able to capture the moment without
introducing blur to the image. Other cases where you might want to
increase ISO are when you need to get ultra-fast shots, like the bird
picture I posted above. But before increasing the ISO, you should think
if it is OK for you to introduce noise to the image.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">On many of
the newer DSLRs, there is a setting for “Auto ISO”, which works great in
low-light environments. The beauty of this setting, is that you can set
the maximum ISO to a certain number, so when the ISO is automatically
increased based on the amount of light, it does not cross the set
barrier. So, if I want to limit the amount of grain in my pictures, I
typically set the maximum ISO to 800.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you have any questions,
comments or feedback, please post them in the comments section below.
Please note that the above explanation of ISO is given in very
basic/simple terms, similar to film sensitivity. Correctly defining ISO
in digital cameras can get fairly complex. If you want to find out more
about ISO in digital cameras, including the ISO 12232:2006 standard,
please see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_speed#Digital_camera_ISO_speed_and_exposure_index">this</a> article from Wikipedia.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12744257957159967239noreply@blogger.com0