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One of the most important elements in photography is aperture. Generally, aperture or also known as F-stop refers to lens opening that determines the amount of light to come into focus when an individual takes a picture.  The larger the F-stop value, the smaller the aperture.If the lens opening (aperture) is wide, then the image on what the lens is focusing will be sharp while other objects surrounding it will be blurred.

The aperture varies in different cameras but the three most common settings are the maximum aperture at F2.8, aperture ranges between F2.8 to F8.0 and maximum wide angle aperture between F2.8 and F3.5. The optical system that limits the amount of light traveling in can be the edge of a lens or a special structure which is called diaphragm arranged in the optical path to block off the light from entering the lens.

Some may refer these structures as stops since the main purpose is to control the brightness at an image focus. Aperture is an important feature in the camera as it affects the depth of field. In other words, smaller F-stop number produces longer depth of field. Therefore, all the objects at a wide range of distances can come into focus at once.

The aperture function in the camera can be easily adjusted to convenient the photographer to control the amount of light reaching the lens. This feature is best used together with shutter speed to capture beautiful pictures. When you set a fast shutter speed, you need to adjust a wider aperture to allow sufficient light entering the lens. On the other hand, slow shutter speed requires smaller aperture to prevent overexposure.

As mentioned earlier, the special structure known as diaphragm placed between the optical path is meant to control the aperture. This feature functions similarly like the iris of an eye as it limits the diameter of the aperture. When a photographer reduces the lens opening, the depth of field will increase.

A semi-automatic shooting mode is known as aperture priority that enables the photographer to set the aperture opening while the camera will detect ideal shutter speed as well as ISO sensitivity to prevent excessive exposure. Aperture priority is also commonly called AV mode, A mode or aperture priority auto exposure.

For beginners who know nothing about aperture, no worries and most importantly, do not be afraid to try this function and experiment it. Here are some practical and useful tips to guide you on our first project to experiment to explore the aperture function.

You need to understand what exactly is shallow depth of field. Basically, shallow depth of field separates subject from the surroundings thus it is helpful if you want to take portrait photography. It only focuses on a viewer’s eyes on certain part of the picture.

Why is it useful in portrait photography? Because it helps you to isolate the surroundings and concentrate only on the desired subject. Perhaps, you might have heard of hyper focusing. But since you are a beginner, don’t even bother about it as this technique is usually used by professional landscape photographers.