Bruises and Bandaids »

Remember aperture? If not, check out my definitions page. It’s the opening in your lens that allows you to do two things. One, it allows more light in and two, it controls your depth of field (how much is going to be sharply in focus in the background.

These two pictures below are taken at the aperture (also known as f stop) of 2.2. That means the hole in my lens is open up really wide, the hole is big. So, my depth of field behind my subject is shallow, creating a blurry background. The background is not sharply in focus. Right? So that’s a shallow depth of field. Make sense? These two pictures were taken with the same settings but a different focus point. When taking the picture on the left I focused on my little boy’s eyes. In the picture on the right I didn’t change any of my settings, but instead I focused on the donut. :)

My manual settings for this shot were:
ISO – 800 (inside the donut shop)
aperture – 2.2 (open pretty wide open for light and for a very shallow depth of field)
shutter speed – 1/250 second

My manual settings for these two shots:

ISO – 400
aperture – 2.8
shutter speed – 1/320
lens – 50mm 1.2

ISO – 250
aperture – 2.8
shutter speed – 1/250
lens – 50mm 1.2

Did you notice that both of these images have the same aperture (the same f-stop)? They are both set at 2.8. But they look quite different. In the first picture the background falls off (blurry) much more than the second picture. In the second picture you can at least tell that it’s grass under her. Why are they different when they both have the same aperture setting? Well, my distance to the subject is different in these two pictures and that makes it appear different. I’m really close to the little girl in the first picture and so the background falls off much more. There is a lot more distance between my lens and the little girl in the second picture and so much more is in focus below her. Does that make sense? Hope so! Happy practicing. And…. guess what, one more workshop will be opening up in the Fall. I said I wasn’t doing any in the Fall, but I lied (or changed my mind). I’m giving in (a lot of you lovely people have been asking). Let’s do one more Saturday. More info soon. Look for it here…

Wanted to show you what it looks like when my lens is pretty wide open (low aperture number)…

Manual settings:
ISO – 250 (in full shade, but a very sunny day)
aperture – 2.2 (focused on subject but wanting the background to fall off)
shutter speed – 1/1000 second (just found the shutter speed that I needed in order to not have an over or underexposed image)
lens – 50mm 1.2L

A lovely family shot just enjoying each other. Here are my settings..

Manual settings:
ISO – 640 (in full shade, but was a little dark because there was a cover over the top of us)
aperture – 4.0 (an easy starting point for getting a family in focus is that you start with one f stop per person, f4 for 4 people, not always necessary, but good starting point if you’re learning)
shutter speed – 1/160 second (again often the lowest/slowest I go when I’m shooting with active moving kids)
lens – 50mm 1.2L

Just wanted to throw an example your way. This picture was shot with my fstop or aperture set at  2.5. Remember, those are the same thing, f-stop and aperture. Two different names, same thing. But anyways, do you see the blur in the background? That’s what you’ll get with 2.5

In case you’re interested, the rest of my settings were:
manual (M)
f-stop: 2.5
ISO: 800
shutter speed: 200
shot inside my house but below my sunroof

Oh and one more thing…..shoes are the cutest part of a little boys’ wardrobe….just in case you wondered. With girls you get bows, dresses, etc. With boys…you get shoes. :)

You’re sitting with two hundred crazy parents in the school cafeteria. You’re trying not to be “that parent”, you know the one that pushes and bullies her way to the front row so that she can get the perfect picture and be the amazing front row parent. Ok, so now you’re 10 rows back for your little first grader’s christmas program. It’s actually not a bad seat. You can see the whole class in all their glory. The only problem is that your little pop up flash on your camera won’t reach that far. Your subject (your adorable singing child) is too far away.

Yet, this scenario is another reason to learn how to use your camera without a flash because when you are 10 rows back though your flash may pop up and light up, it does nothing for your picture. And because your little pop up flash cannot reach them, your picture will most likely turn out darker than you’re hoping for. If…it’s on auto. :)

So, here’s a project for you. Let’s move it on up. The next step….
Turn your camera dial to the [Av] setting. This setting is aperture priority. You now have control over the aperture. Remember aperture? It’s the opening in your camera lens. It lets light in but it also determines the depth of field (or if things are sharp or blurry in the background). So you will be changing the aperture but the camera will automatically change the shutter speed.

So…go outside during the day in some consistent shady light (like under a patio cover or under a big tree or in the shade of your house)
(1) Set your camera dial (usually on top left of camera) to [Av]
(2) Set your ISO (push the ISO button usually on the top right of camera) and turn the dial right next to it to 400 (I often use this for nice shade)
(3) Push the ISO button once more to set it.
(4) Now before you take a picture turn that dial (usually on top right of camera) to adjust the aperture. Try 2.8 first. Shoot a picture. Then change it to 5.0. Shoot another pic. Then change it to 10, (shoot) then 16 (and shoot).
(5) Now compare the shots. Probably easier to see the difference on your computer.

If your camera will not let you change the aperture (a.k.a. “f stop”) to 2.8 it’s because your lens won’t open up that wide. Try the smallest number it will allow you to go to (for many lenses that come with the camera it’s 4).

Now take some pictures of one still object or person and see what the different aperture settings do to the image. The smaller the number (like 2.8 or 4) will create a blurry/fuzzy background. The bigger the number (10, 16, etc) will allow all of the things in the background to be in focus. Try it. See what you like and what you prefer. I love to use f stops (aperture settings) between 2.8 and 4 when photographing a child. The background will fall away and the focus will be on the child.

This picture below is at aperture (f stop) 5. See how you can see the doors in the background? They’re not blurry?

And this picture below is at an aperture (f stop) of 2.8. See how the yellow chair kind of falls away? It’s a little out of focus?

How low does your lens allow you to set the aperture? 4? 2.8?
Let me know what works and what doesn’t? What do you think? Leave a comment.
Good luck! :)