Lens aperture is one of the key tools for photographers for adjusting the exposure and for achieving specific creative depth of field effects. The lens aperture is an adjustable hole created by a diaphragm within the camera lens. When you change the size of this hole, you change the amount of light allowed to pass […]
Aperture (lens)
This is the adjustable hole in the lens diaphragm that controls how much light passes through the lens and is used to adjust the exposure. Aperture setting values are the same across all cameras and lenses, and here's a part of the series: f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11 – though the theoretical aperture range is much wider than any single lens can manage. The maximum aperture – how wide the lens opening can go – is a big selling point because wider apertures let more light through. The lens aperture also has an effect of depth of field, or the near-to-far sharpness in the picture, and the number of aperture blades is a selling point because it affects the way the lens’s ‘bokeh’.
Depth of field and bokeh
Depth of field is the near to far sharpness in your pictures. A picture with shallow depth of field has only the main subject in focus, and everything in front of it and behind it is blurred. The opposite is a picture with deep depth of field, where everything is sharp from right up close […]
ISO (sensitivity) and how it works
ISO is the unit used to measure and adjust the camera sensor’s sensitivity to light. With film, the ISO setting (or film ‘speed’) is part of the film’s physical and chemical properties and can’t be changed. With digital cameras it’s possible to ‘turn up the volume’ on the sensor to make it more sensitivity to […]
Exposure and how it works
Exposure is all about making sure the sensor gets the right amount of light. Without camera exposure controls, pictures taken at night would be pitch black, and those taken in bright daylight might be burned out. There is actually a fairly narrow ‘window’ of light intensities which sensors can record, and real-world lighting conditions vary […]