Aperture

A camera gathers the light that determines how good the picture will be. Better cameras will collect more light, and the photo will be clearer and thus better. The lack of aperture makes pictures dark and grainy, and that isn’t something you would want in a photo. You could compare aperture with how the human iris works as it has adjustable blades that determine the amount of light that is needed for the picture. Latest models work better than some previous devices as their settings can adjust this at a better rate and with more precision.

Maximum aperture and what it represents

You can manually adjust the aperture on the device, and it will change how the picture turns out. But every device has a limit that prevents opening the blades too much, and that is the maximum aperture. However, this doesn’t mean that you should keep the lenses open at all times.

In some situations, it is important to open them entirely to get the best quality in the picture, while in other cases the length of exposure precedes the openness of the aperture. This short tutorial will address situations in which you will want the maximum aperture. If you are interested in taking perfect pictures, then you should keep on reading.

Maximum aperture under natural light

Three ways for taking pictures under natural light exist. The first one is to use flash, but that isn’t advisable, and no professional would do this. Flash ruins perfect pictures and thus avoid it. The second option is to open the aperture to maximum and take a photo in a short period. The third option is to keep the shutter open for an extended period as it will gather more light and thus allow you to take beautiful shots.

Fast shutter speeds and how they affect the maximum aperture

You will be recognized as a pro in the world of photography if you can take excellent pictures of moving objects, including the bad weather (rain, snow and so on). The combination of the maximum aperture and correct shutter speed is what will create a perfect picture of a fast object, and it will propel you into the world of photography.

Reduced depth of field

Aperture wood

Wide maximum apertures have shallow depths of field (DOF), allowing you to focus on something special, while leaving blurry backgrounds for a stronger emphasis on your central subject.

Having a lens with maximum aperture of 5.6, for example, doesn’t let you reduce the DOF as much as you’d like for perfect portraits or simply stunning nature photography.

When you wade through all the numbers while shopping for lenses, you can stumble upon either something like: 50mm f1/8 or something like 18-55mm f/3.5-6.3.

The first set of numbers – 50 mm and 18-55mm represent the focal length (a topic to be detailed in another photography tutorial). The second set interests us the most as they indicate the maximum aperture of a lens.

If the first case is pretty much self-explanatory, the second one is a standard example for zoom lenses that have a variable maximum aperture in our case:

• At 18mm the maximum aperture is f/3.5
• At 55mm the maximum aperture is f/5.6.

For different lighting conditions, you need different maximum apertures. You can use the following as reference:

Once you begin to master the use of apertures, you will begin to see a big difference in the quality of your pictures. Companies like Lulu offer the option to design and create photo books using your favorite photos, which you can have delivered straight to your home, or to your friends and family as gifts.