So what is aperture? Well, aperture is probably the most confusing thing about
using a DSLR camera, but in this video I'm gonna demystify it, simplify it, and
by the end of the video you'll know what it is and how to use it comfortably and
confidently. Here's what you're gonna learn. Check it out
aperture is the hole in the lens that lets light through to your camera's sensor
it's one of the three things along with ISO and shutter speed that determines
the exposure of your image...you can see the aperture opening up and then closing
right down. Aperture is measured in what's called f-stops. A small f-stop like f1.8
means a large hole. A large f-stop like f22 means a small hole
depth of field quite simply is how much for your picture will be in focus
so that's your shallow depth of field and we've achieved that by using an
aperture at f1.8. The closer you are to your subject, the blurrier your background will be
and the further away you are from your subject, the clearer your background is going to get
regardless of aperture
Hi there. Barry Callister for Barry Callister Photography,
giving you hints, tips, and tricks for better nature photography. Welcome to my
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video. Also at anytime during the video, check out the links in the video
description for any of the gear I use. You can also purchase via those links if
you want to. Let's jump straight into this video on what is aperture and how to use it.
So what is aperture? Well basically aperture is the hole in the
lens that lets light through to your camera's sensor, and it acts like the
iris of your eye. The iris of your eye will open or close your pupil depending
on the lighting conditions. So if you're in a bright environment like this, your
iris will close down your pupil to let less light in. If you're in a dark
environment, it will open the pupil up to let more light in, and aperture is the
same thing. Small aperture means less light gets in. Large hole, or large
aperture means more light gets through, and because of this it's one of the
three things; along with ISO and shutter speed that determines the exposure of
your image or...simply, how bright or dark your picture will be.
At any time during the video make sure you check out those links in the video description. There's a
link down there to a PDF that outlines all the important points that I'm making
in the video. So you can download that to your phone, or print it out and take it
with you when you're photographing and you'll have all that important
information right there with you.
So if we have a look at my Nikon 50mm
prime lens here, and we look down the barrel, you can see the aperture hole
there, and if I move this lever here you can see the aperture opening up and then
closing right down. So wide open there, that is an aperture of f1.8.
Closed all the way down this lens goes to f16.
Now what do these F numbers mean?
Well aperture is measured in what's called f-stops. f1.8, f5.6, f8, f11, and so-on...
and a small f-stop like f1.8 means a large hole. A large f-stop like
f-22 means a small hole. And this is why aperture is so
confusing for a lot of people. But if you hang around, in just a minute I'm going
to give you a handy tip that'll make that a lot less confusing for you.
Now, how did I know that at its widest aperture my 50mm prime lens was
f1.8? Well because, not only because when I put it on the camera my camera tells
me it's f1.8, but also because on the side of every lens that you have there are
numbers that tell you what the widest aperture your lens is capable of
is. So let's take a look at that...
So taking a look at my 50mm prime lens here,
you can see these numbers over here, there's a ratio 1 to 1.8.
The 1.8 is telling you that f1.8 is the widest aperture that this lens is
capable of. The reason it's written as a ratio is because aperture is measured as a ratio.
Let's take a look now at a zoom lens because they're a little bit different.
Now you can see on my 18 to 55mm zoom lens here that it's got
two numbers on the right-hand side of the ratio, it's 1 to 3.5, to 5.6.
Now what this means is that if I'm zoomed out to 18mm,
which is as wide as the lens will go, f3.5 is the widest aperture that I can
have at that soon. If I zoom to 55mm, all the way out to 55.......f5.6
is the widest aperture that I can have there. So it's telling you your widest
aperture possible of that lens. Now aperture doesn't only affect the
exposure of your image, it also controls something called depth of field or DOF
for-short. Depth of field quite simply is how much of your picture will be in
focus. Now you've probably seen images like this one, this portrait of me where
the face is in nice, sharp focus and everything behind me is all blurry and
soft and looks lovely. That's what's called a shallow depth of field and it's
achieved by using a small f-stop number like f1.8. You'll have also seen
landscape images such as this one I took where everything from the foreground all
the way to the horizon is in sharp focus. This is called a large depth of field
and you achieve this by using a large f-stop like f8....f11. Now this leads me
into the handy tip that'll make aperture a little less confusing
for you, hopefully. What I want you to think about when you're thinking about
aperture is how much of your image you want in focus. If you want a small amount
of things in focus; use a small f-stop like f1.8. If you want a large amount of
things in focus in your image; use a large f-stop like f8, f11, any....
and higher than that. So small amount of things in focus; small number. Large
amount of things in focus; large number. Hopefully that'll make it less confusing.
So let's go take a couple of photos
and I'll show you how your aperture affects your depth of field.
Now I'm going to use this row of trees here in front of me to
show you how aperture affects your depth of field. I'm doing this with my 50mm
prime lens on because when you use a zoom lens, your zoom actually
affects your depth of field also, so keeping it at 50mm is going to
help us to concentrate on just the aperture and not to zoom. So I'm going to
take the first shot here at f1.8. Now I'm in Aperture Priority mode so that I
don't have to worry about the exposure, the camera is going to do that for me.
So I've set my aperture to f1.8, and my focal point is on this tree here at the
front. And all the other trees in the line going backwards are all going
to be nicely blurred out. So we'll just focus on that tree...take the shot...
So you can see with this shot here, on the left..the tree on the left is nicely in focus
and everything behind it is nicely blurred out. So that's your nice shallow
depth of field and we've achieved that by using an aperture of f1.8. So now what
I'll do is I'll change the aperture to f5.6 and we'll see the difference in our
nice blurry background. So we'll go to f5.6 there, I might do this shot on a
timer because it's a very slow shutter speed. So the focus point is still the
same, we're still focused on the tree in the foreground. And you'll find that the
background will still be blurry but it'll just be a lot less blur there.
So you can see with that image the background is really starting to get a
lot of detail in it. Our tree in the foreground is still in focus but you can
start to tell what's in the background. So now what I'm going to do is I'm going
to crank my f-stop right up to as high as it will go with
this lens which is f16. We'll put it on a 10 second timer again just because it's
a two-second shutter so...And this time you'll be able to see that background a
lot clearer. The background's coming more-and-more into detail because of our
smaller aperture or our higher f-stop. So more things in focus;
higher f-stop. Less things in focus; low f-stop. So you can see now with this
image that the trees in the background are almost totally in focus now, so you
can...you're getting a lot more detail back there again. And going from one to
the other, you can see in our first image at f1.8, the background is very blurry,
you can hardly tell what everything is back there. And then the next one it's
starting to get a lot more detail. And then the next shot, you can almost see
the trees in the background quite clearly. So that clearly shows you the
effective aperture on your depth of field. Now another thing that can affect
your depth of field is the distance to your subject from your camera, so I
wanted to show you this too because I didn't want you coming back to me saying
"but Barry, I've used the apertures that you said and my depth of field is
different to yours." It might be because your distance to your subject is
different. So let's have a look at that now with the few test shots.
So this first shot that I'm going to take here... we're back at f1.8 and I'm the same
distance from the tree on the left of frame here as I was in the other
examples where I just changed the aperture. So this time we're going to
change the distance. So if I take a shot here at this distance, of course we're
going to get the same result that we got with the other photo. So the background
is nice and blurry but you can still kind of make out what things are. So now
if I move the camera forward a little bit, so we go closer to that tree, you'll
notice a big difference in how blurry the background is. So now I've moved the
camera about probably a meter closer to the tree than it was before,
and we'll take the same shot. So we're still focused on this tree in the
foreground, it's the same tree, and if I take this shot...I might do this on a
timer as it's a 1/15th of a second shutter
And you'll notice that the background is a bit blurrier than the previous photo.
So there you can see, that's our first shot...and there's the one we just took.
So the background is a little bit blurrier than it was in that previous shot.
Now I'll move the camera really close to the tree; as close as this will lens will
focus, and we'll take another shot and you'll notice the difference in the blur
of the background. And what I'll do after that is I'll move the camera about
five meters back from the tree, and you'll notice that the background will
get a lot clearer. So now with this shot I've got my camera about 40 to 50
centimeters from the same tree....we've focused on the tree trunk itself and
we'll take this photo...and you'll notice the background in this photo is a lot
blurrier than the previous two photos. It's not a big difference....but you can
definitely tell. And you will definitely tell when I now move the camera back
five meters. So now you can see I've got my camera about four to five meters back
from the tree. You can see, that's our tree there, that that trunk just there is
our focal point. So I've already focused the camera I'm
just going to take the shot. And you can see there that the background is really
starting to become a lot clearer. So by doing this, you can see that the closer
you are to your subject; the blurrier your background will be. And the further away
you are from the subject; the clearer your background is going to get,
regardless of aperture.
So remember....small amount of things in focus; small
f-stop number. Large amount of things in focus; large f-stop number. And if you
want the background really really blurry; go close to your subject. If you want to
clear the background up; go further away from your subject.
So there you go, that is aperture and how to use it.
Hopefully you've learnt some things. If you've
still got any questions, pop them in the comment section down below and I'll try
to get back to you as soon as I can. Be sure to download that PDF as well from
the links in the video description. That is an excellent field reference for you
to take with you when you're out photographing, it'll help you to remember
all the important points of the video. Also if you haven't yet subscribe to my
channel, hit Subscribe, ding the notification bell so you get
notified when I bring out another video, which is about once a month at the
moment so...Hopefully I'm going to bring out more soon but we'll see what happens.
It's just a time thing for me, so we'll see what happens. So until next time, I'm
Barry Callister for Barry Callister Photography. Get out there...take some
wicked shots and I'll see you soon.