Photography Lesson 2: Aperture

For our second lesson we learned about Aperture. This is the setting that lets you decide how big the hole is that allows in light when you take the picture. The lower number the f stop (f/2.0) the bigger the hole and the more light you are letting in, which is an open aperture. The higher the number (f/20) the smaller the hole and less light, a closed aperture. Among many things the aperture mainly controls depth of field. With an open aperture you are going to find that your main subject is in focus while the rest of the picture will tend to be blurry. With a closed aperture more of the picture will be in focus. You can see the photos I submitted for my assignment below.

Here’s a link to my sister’s aperture assignment. She also describes what is happening in a way that might help you understand better.

Open Aperture:

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Closed Aperture:

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4 Responses to “Photography Lesson 2: Aperture”

  1. Linda Card 16 Mar 2009 at 2:13 pm #

    The focus is really the focus in open aperature, huh? But it seems that the colors are a bit different, too between open and closed. Well, not different. The black is blacker on the grill of the tractor, even the shadow of the tractor is darker in “closed”. It’s cool but I
    like the “background receding” part of open. Thanks for sharing your class info.

  2. Krista 16 Mar 2009 at 5:37 pm #

    hmmm…. now if I can just figure out how to adjust the aperture on my fancy camera…

  3. Dan (Dad) Ellsworth 17 Mar 2009 at 9:50 am #

    Even with my 4-H photography project (3 years?) I never understood aperture as well as you explained and demonstrated it, Deb.

  4. Kim 01 Apr 2009 at 6:37 pm #

    Someone is turning into a genuine photo nerd!!! ;) Wow! I feel so offside on this whole topic! But I like the motif. John Deere is like the Volvo of the US!

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