Going out with my camera to the library I set my camera to the below settings so I could see a real range and difference between apertures and shutter speeds.
I noticed that the lower number F stop, i.e. F5.6, the more blurry the background. The higher number F stop, i.e. F22, the more clear the background. This is called depth of field.
Aperture refers to the access given to light from the lens to the camera sensors. The size of my aperture (the diameter of the hole through which light enters the camera) controls the amount of light entering my lens. Therefore I found out that using the aperture (f-stop) of my lens is the simplest way to control my depth of field as I set up my shot.
Large aperture = Small f-number = Shallow (small) depth of field Small aperture = Larger f-number = Deeper (larger) depth of field
Using a shallow depth of field is a good way to make my subject stand out from its background and is therefore great for portrait photography.
As I understand it, by using a wide-angle lens and a small aperture I will be able maximize my depth of field to get my scene in focus if I am taking any landscape shots.
As you can see from my shots below the first one is shot with a large aperture, the second one somewhere in the middle and the last one with a small aperture.
F 5.0. 1/50. ISO 1600. F 11.0. 1/8. ISO 1600. F 22. 0.5. ISO 1600.
Shutter speed on the other hand is the length of time the camera shutter is open, exposing light onto the camera sensor. Essentially, it’s how long my camera spends taking a photo. This has a few important effects in how my images appeared.
When I used a long shutter speed, I ended up exposing my sensor for a significant period of time. The first big effect of it is motion blur. If my shutter speed is long, moving subjects in my photo appeared blurred along the direction of motion. This effect is used quite often in advertisements of cars and motorbikes, where a sense of speed and motion is communicated to the viewer by intentionally blurring the moving wheels. As you can see from my shots below, the first one is with a long shutter speed. I also used this kind of shutter speed when photography my light painting. I would also use this in a waterfall picture.
A fast shutter speed is typically whatever it takes to freeze action. Photographing Katy jumping, I used a fast shutter speed and caught her mid air, which I thought was a great shot. Therefore I would use this kind of shutter speed if I were photographing birds flying or anything that involves catching something mid action.
F 25.0. 1/40. ISO 500. F 25.0. 1/400. ISO 3200. F 5.0. 1/8000. ISO 6400
#understandingphotography #photography #depthoffield #longexposure #fastexposure #shutterspeed #fastshutterspeed #slowshutterspeed #mediumshutterspeed
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