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1. f in front of the number without the slash like F5 6 or f5 6 They all mean the same thing Many photographers don t even say or write the F They ll say I shot this picture at 5 6 NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 4 Let s break down this term F stop First off what does the F stand for Well the way camera and lens manufacturers get these F numbers like f 5 6 and f 11 and f 22 is from a formula This formula has several measurements involved including the physical diameter of the aperture opening And like many formulas this formula has a variable in it a value that changes This variable is actually the lens focal length like 28mm 50mm 80mm etc The general consensus is that this F represents the variable of Focal length So the F just represents the variable in the formula The Stop part of f stop should make sense now that we ve covered stops But truthfully you don t need to know what the F stands for I went years not knowing what it meant and it never held me back But if you have the space in your brain to store that little piece of information more power to you Okay so that explains the term F stop but what do the numbers mean As I mentioned above these numbers are derived from a formula This formula take2. 16 18 920 22 25 29 132 G We have real wide apertures that let in a lot of light towards the upper left and really small apertures that let in very little light to the lower right Important Note To find where the aperture is indicated on your camera refer to your user manual Keep in mind that many cameras don t display the f before the f number For example for an aperture of f 5 6 the camera will only show 5 6 Just like last week with the shutter speeds let s look at the f stops in bold C 72 8 f 4 5 6 8 f 11 16 22 1 32 GS These apertures are all 1 stop apart from each other as you move left or right The unfortunate thing with the aperture is there 1s no visual pattern like with the shutter speeds If you have a shutter speed of 4 you can easily figure out the shutter speed that s 1 stop brighter by simply doubling 4 to 8 But we can t do that with the apertures These ones you ll just start to remember as you shoot more There s no visual pattern with the aperture numbers because again these f numbers are derived from a formula that takes into account the area of a circle If you were to work this formula out you d find that an aperture of f 2 8 has an area twice as large as f 4 so it will let in twice as much light or 1 stop more light Per the formula an aperture of f 22 has an area half as large as f 16 so it will let in half as much light or 1 stop less ligh
3. The following diagram helps illustrate this Wide Lets in 1 2 8 Aperture More Light f 4 f 5 6 f 8 f 11 f 16 O 000OO f 22 Nanon Lets in Aperture COSSEN G f 32 In the following examples the only thing that changed was the aperture I kept the other 2 exposure tools the same the shutter speed and the ISO These examples are only demonstrating that wider apertures let in more light while smaller apertures let in less light Shutter Speed 1 500 Shutter Speed 1 500 Shutter Speed 1 500 Aperture f 11 Aperture f 7 1 Aperture f 4 5 ISO 400 ISO 400 ISO 400 NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 8 Notice how the widest aperture smallest f stop number created the brightest image and the smallest aperture largest f stop number created the darkest image This is because the wider apertures let more light through than the smaller apertures like a garden hose compared to a drinking straw HOW STOPS PLAY IN TO THE APERTURE Let s see how stops play in to the aperture Here are your apertures these can also be found on the Cheat Sheet at the Curriculum Homepage Your lens es might have more apertures than you see below or more likely less apertures than you see below We ll get to why that is in a little while OC f 2 8 13 2 35 f 4 45 5 5 6 163 17 1 f 8 9 10 f ll 13 14
4. light behaves a lot like water If you let your light sponge that is your image sensor soak up light for a longer period of time via the shutter speed then it will collect more light and thus make the image brighter Well just like water if you try to pass light through a smaller opening then less will get through to the sponge That s where the aperture comes in The aperture is just an opening inside your lens that lets the light through It s like a hose in that sense But unlike a hose the aperture can change its diameter on the fly You can go from a drinking straw to a garden hose to a fire hose with just a flick of the control wheel So that s why the aperture can change diameter so it can control how much light the sensor will soak up Does that statement sound familiar You ll remember from last week that the shutter can be open for different lengths of time so it can control how much light the sensor will soak up So you see the aperture exists for the same reason the shutter exists to let in more or less light For example an aperture of f 2 8 is wider than an aperture of f 11 remember bigger number smaller opening So f 2 8 will let in more light than f 11 An aperture of f 22 is much smaller than an aperture of f 4 So f 22 will let in far less light than f 4 NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 7
5. Figuring out how bright you want to make the picture is one thing but choosing which one of the hundreds of different combinations of shutter aperture and ISO to get that targeted brightness is something else entirely Because remember there isn t just one combination of shutter aperture and ISO that will get a correct exposure there are hundreds NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 2 As we learned last week different shutter speeds will render motion differently So sometimes you may want a combination of shutter aperture and ISO that will freeze the motion of your subject Other times you may want a combination that will blur the motion It s all up to you Once you ve nailed down how bright you want the image to be then you can juggle the shutter aperture and ISO settings until you get a combination that suits what you re looking for By the end of Week 3 once we ve covered the aperture and ISO you ll be able to figure out what combinations of shutter aperture and ISO give you equivalent exposures Then we ll tackle the topic of how to find the correct exposure That s manual metering and that s what the final 3 weeks are all about STOPS Last week I introduced the idea of stops to you To refresh your memory A stop is simply a halving or doubling of light If you double the amount of light i
6. a large depth of field Those beautiful portraits you see where the background is nice and blurry but the subject is sharp and in focus that s a narrow depth of field NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 12 Those landscapes where everything is in focus from the rocks in the foreground to the mountain in the background that s a wide depth of field The aperture can affect the DOF in your image Basically changing the aperture will affect how much of the image is in focus from front to back To put it simply The larger the aperture the smaller the depth of field The smaller the aperture the larger the depth of field Again large aperture small DOF small aperture large DOF So a large aperture will have less in focus from front to back A small aperture will have more in focus from front to back Why is this Couldn t tell ya It s just how physics works A bigger opening will put less in focus while a smaller opening will put more in focus That s what s important to know This image with the small DOF had an aperture of f 5 6 a very wide aperture NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 13 This image with the big DOF had an aperture of f 20 a very small aperture See
7. e The aperture is measured in f stops but it moves in stops e Larger f stop numbers represent smaller apertures Smaller f stop numbers represent larger apertures e The aperture you choose will impact the shutter speed If you don t let in much light with a small aperture the camera will have to use a longer shutter speed Remember how the shutter speed affects motion blur so don t use an aperture that yields too slow of a shutter speed All content graphics and images copyright Nick Carver No portion of this material or course may be duplicated reproduced distributed or otherwise shared in any form without the expressed consent of Nick Carver NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM THE PRECEDING WAS A FREE PREVIEW OF THE HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL ONLINE COURSE BY NICK CARVER Thank you for taking the time to sample this course Enroll today to gain access to the entirety of this course including 6 PDF Lesson Guides e 139 Pages in All e 218 Example Images e 136 Illustrations 9 Video presentations 2 Hours in All e Unlimited Email Support Course Details amp Enrollment HERE View All Online Courses HERE Discount Packages HERE Questions Email me at info nickcarverphotography com NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM
8. if it ll give you everything in focus you want You could take a picture then look at the review screen to see if it gave you the DOF you needed but that extra time might make you miss some important opportunities and the screen may be too small and hard to see in direct sunlight That s why the camera gods gave us the depth of field preview button Not every camera has it but most do nowadays It s a little button on the front of your camera typically next to the base of where the lens meets the camera body When you press this button it will temporarily close down the aperture to whatever f stop you ve selected so you can look through the viewfinder and see the DOF as it will be in the final picture To use it just look through your viewfinder while you press the button and you ll see the DOF as it will appear in the final shot The viewfinder will go darker but that s just because you re looking through a smaller aperture Keep in mind that just because the viewfinder goes darker it does not mean your picture will be darker The viewfinder going dark is just a side effect of looking through the smaller NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 24 aperture What you re really looking for is the change in DOF So when you press the DOF preview button keep an eye on everything that s out of focus It will sharpen up if you
9. light but for certain types of photography it s worth every penny and pound Why pay over twice the price and carry over twice the weight for a bigger aperture Because a bigger aperture will let in more light allowing you to shoot in low light environments and use faster shutter speeds that can be a big deal in sports and wildlife photography If you have a zoom lens there s a real good chance its maximum aperture will change as you zoom in or out Professional series lenses often have an aperture of say f 2 8 throughout the entire zoom range So it if zooms from 24mm to 70mm then you ll be able to use f 2 8 at 24mm and all the way up through 70mm But most lenses on the market including kit lenses that come with the camera will have what s called a variable maximum aperture That means that it will have a different maximum aperture when zoomed in to 70mm than when zoomed out to 24mm It might have a max aperture of f 3 5 at 24mm but then drop to a max aperture of f 5 6 at 70mm So basically you lose some of your widest apertures when you zoom in They make lenses this way so they can be smaller lighter weight and cheaper It s a trade off but everything in photography is NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 11 HOW THE APERTURE AFFECTS THE IMAGE We ve talked extensively about how a change in the shutte
10. which we ll get to by the end of this lesson You Il just have to experiment Here are several real life example pictures and the apertures I used D To get a big DOF and render everything in focus from the river in the foreground to the mountain peaks in the background I used a small aperture of f 18 NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 17 Here I wanted just a small part of the picture to be in focus for a more abstract composition so I chose a wide aperture of f 2 8 O In this picture I wanted the background To draw more attention to the eyes of this to be just a little bit blurry but not model I wanted a small DOF from f 2 8 completely blurry so as to pull a little to blur out the background and even her O more attention to the blades of grass A shirt and shoulders mid range aperture of f 13 did the trick NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM 18 HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 In this picture I wanted draw as much attention as possible to the sharp cactus By using a mid range aperture of f 11 I was able to blur the background just enough to make that foreground cactus look even sharper by comparison To isolate my subject and pull more attention to his face I used a wide aperture of f 4 5 so as to create a narrow DOF
11. DOF Point of focus f 11 DOF Point of focus f 22 NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 16 You ll notice in these illustrations that the DOF extends further behind the tree than it does in front It actually does work that way in real life In fact the DOF extends behind your subject where your camera is focused and 4 in front of your subject WHAT APERTURES YOU CAN USE As discussed previously the apertures available to you will be determined by your lens And you can technically use any one of these apertures in any lighting scenario But just because you can technically use any aperture doesn t mean you should WHAT APERTURES YOU SHOULD USE The aperture you should use will be determined by two things 1 How much DOF do you want in your shot 2 What apertures will give you an acceptable shutter speed Let s talk about the DOF first I just showed you how different apertures will give you different depths of field So the aperture you should use depends on what DOF you want If you want a sharp background with a lot in focus from front to back use a small aperture like f 18 or f 22 If you want a blurry background with very little in focus from front to back use a wide aperture like f 2 8 I can t tell you how much DOF each aperture will give you because there are a couple other variables that affect DOF
12. FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 10 For instance if you take an aperture of f 6 3 and move 3 spaces to the right you ll get an aperture of f 9 which is one stop smaller and darker than f 6 3 If you take an aperture of f 20 and move 3 spaces to the left you ll get an aperture of f 14 which is one stop wider and brighter than f 20 So that s how stops play in to the aperture The aperture moves in stops APERTURES AVAILABLE TO YOU Chances are your lens doesn t go all the way to f 2 8 Your lens might stop at f 3 5 or f 4 or even f 5 6 This is because different lenses dead end at different apertures The widest aperture meaning the smallest f number that your lens allows you to reach is called the lens s maximum aperture Some lenses have a maximum aperture of f 2 8 while others have a maximum aperture of f 5 6 Some can go even wider than f 2 8 all the way to f 1 2 Your lens s maximum aperture will determine the biggest aperture you can use This maximum aperture is one of the biggest deciding factors in size weight and price of a lens For example in the image to the right both lenses are 300mm lenses so they will give the exact same magnification The lens on the left has a maximum aperture of f 4 it weighs 2 6 pounds and it costs 1 300 The lens on the right however has a wider maximum aperture of f 2 8 just 1 stop wider it weighs 6 pounds and it costs 5 500 That s a lot of weight and cash for just 1 stop more
13. Here I wanted everything in focus from the rocks in the foreground to the cliffs in the background so I chose a small aperture of f 20 NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 19 In this shot I wanted the O To get a soft artistic look to this background to be a tiny bit blurry image I chose a wide aperture of but not indiscernible so I chose a f 2 8 which gave me a small DOF mid range aperture of f 10 ye NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM For a more abstract look I chose a small DOF achieved by a wide aperture of f 5 6 FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 20 So that s the first point How much DOF you want in your shot But what about the second point What apertures will give you an acceptable shutter speed This is generally the bigger of the two barriers when choosing an aperture Sometimes you want a sharp background but the aperture you need to get that big DOF requires you to use an unacceptable shutter speed Here s how it works A smaller aperture will give you more DOF but it will let in ess light Since the aperture is letting in less light the shutter speed will have to let in more light to compensate That means you ll need a longer shutter speed Well 1f you re trying to freeze the motion of a bird flying through the a
14. KCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 6 Actually earning the material through study practice and repetition is the better way to go Then it will stick with you for good You didn t use any tricks to help you learn English you just learned it Treat photography the same way But this little trick with the aperture isn t a trick at all because that s how the f numbers actually work The smaller numbers are the denominators of larger fractions That s why smaller f stop numbers are larger holes Important Note Since the smaller numbers are bigger apertures and the bigger numbers are smaller apertures it can get a little confusing knowing what people are talking about For instance you read Use a big aperture for portraits Then you re left wondering if that means a big hole or a big number See how this can get confusing Well photographers who know what they re talking about tend to refer to the aperture as the size of the hole not the number meaning if I were to tell you Use a big aperture for portraits I mean use a big opening which as we just learned would be a small number Really understand what I Just said here You might need to read it a few times and really work it out but it s important HOW THE APERTURE IMPACTS EXPOSURE From the start of this course you may have noticed that I ve been likening exposure to soaking up water That s because in photography
15. THE FOLLOWING IS A FREE PREVIEW OF THE HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL ONLINE COURSE BY NICK CARVER This is just 1 of 6 lesson guides from this course Be sure to check out the free video here All of my online photography courses are self paced That means you ll have access to all 6 lesson guides and all 9 videos from day 1 of the course so that you can study as fast or as slow as you like And with included lifetime course access you ll never lose access to the materials Enrollment in this course includes e 6 PDF Lesson Guides e 139 Pages in All e 218 Example Images e 136 Illustrations e 9 Video presentations 2 Hours in All Unlimited Email Support Course Details amp Enrollment HERE View All Online Courses HERE Discount Packages HERE Questions Email me at info nickcarverphotography com NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 1 WEEK 2 LESSON GUIDE THE APERTURE AN IN DEPTH EXPLANATION A QUICK REVIEW OF THE IMPORTANT STUFF Congratulations for making it through Week 1 If you were hoping to be shooting in Manual by the end of the first week s lesson hang in there We have some more stuff to cover before then But don t worry your tenacity will pay off in the long run We re going to cover your second exposure tool the Aperture this week It ll be a more in depth explanation of the aperture t
16. VER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 EXPOSURE TOOL 2 THE APERTURE Inside your camera s lens is where you ll find the aperture It s an adjustable hole much like the pupil of your eye that can change diameter so as to adjust how much light gets through it And just like your pupils it can never fully close It can go from really wide to really narrow but it can never close completely As covered in the video from last week here s where the aperture is located diagram at right Here 1s a graphic representation of the aperture at different sizes as viewed from the front A Aperture OOS WHAT THE HECK IS AN F STOP The length of time the shutter is open is measured in time Time is something you and I are already familiar with so the shutter speed is a relatively simple thing to grasp The aperture on the other hand is measured in something called f stops This term f stop is completely proprietary to photography and is something you won t find anywhere else in life so be patient with yourself when using and learning it It s a brand new topic It may take a little more time and effort to get a firm handle on it than with the shutter speed The f stop number simply indicates the diameter of the aperture Sometimes they are written with an fP like f 5 6 and sometimes they just have an
17. e smaller holes I know it s confusing and it s going to drive you nuts for awhile it does that to everyone Did to me too Or maybe you re way ahead of the game and you already have a firm handle on this If that s the case kudos This course is going to be quite a bit easier for you But this detail about the aperture is ABSOLUTELY vital to understand The sooner you burn it into your head the easier it will be to use the aperture Believe it or not this isn t just to confuse you There actually is a reason the smaller numbers are bigger holes and vice versa These f numbers are actually the denominator of a fraction that represents the size of the aperture opening And when the denominator the bottom number of a fraction is bigger the fraction is smaller Like 1 20 is a lot smaller than 1 4 So you could really imagine the f as a 1 turning the numbers into fractions and it will make a lot more sense OOG 1 10 1 20 With the f replaced by a I the numbers make a little more sense 1 4 is bigger than 1 10 which is bigger than 1 20 Pm not big on tricks to help remember things All those shutter aperture ISO triangles and comparisons of the aperture to a donut etc etc you ll read elsewhere are tricks to help you remember these things But they are just that tricks They ll more than likely make things more confusing NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NIC
18. er many miles The further away your subject is the bigger DOF 1s at the same aperture The second variable that affects DOF in addition to the aperture is your focal length The longer the focal length i e the more zoomed in your lens is the smaller DOF is The shorter the focal length i e the more zoomed out your lens is the bigger the DOF Let s say you re going to photograph a hawk perched on a tree you want it to fill the frame from talons to head and you re going to use an aperture of f 4 no matter what If you photograph it with a 50mm lens the DOF will be greater than if you use a 200mm lens The 200mm lens at f 4 will create a blurrier background than 50mm at f 4 So to summarize 1 The closer you are to your subject the smaller the DOF 2 The longer the focal length you use the smaller the DOF So with really wide angle lenses like 10 17mm it can be very difficult to get a narrow DOF even if you use something like f 2 8 That s because this short focal length lens has a naturally wide DOF And with a long lens like 200mm it s much harder to get a big DOF even if you use a small aperture like f 32 And you can file this under the I don t really know why this happens category DOF PREVIEW BUTTON There s something very very important to keep in mind when you work with the aperture When you look through your viewfinder you aren t necessarily seeing the DOF you re going to get with
19. han you ll find anywhere else The aperture can be pretty confusing even for those who have been shooting for awhile That s why I ve devoted this entire week to a thorough discussion of the aperture that will completely demystify this tool so you can actually use it with confidence Before we get into it though I want to quickly review a few of the main points from last week These are important to keep in mind throughout the entire course so I m going to beat this dead horse until the information is planted firmly in your memory CONTROLLING EXPOSURE As we talked about last week exposure is defined simply as the quantity of light registered by the digital sensor It s how much light the camera soaks up And the camera can control how much light the sensor soaks up with 3 variables and 3 variables only the shutter the aperture and ISO These are the only 3 tools you have for adjusting the exposure Any one of these can cause the camera to register more light i e make the image brighter or register less light 1 e make the image darker Every time you take a picture you or the camera has to choose a combination of these 3 tools that will render the image the correct brightness When the camera s doing it the camera will decide how bright to make the image and often times it doesn t give you what you wanted When shooting in full manual you ll decide how bright to make the image and that s what this course is all about
20. how the larger aperture smaller f number created a smaller DOF while the smaller aperture bigger f number created a bigger DOF I know I know all this back and forth between small and large and wide and narrow is getting confusing Here s a diagram to help Small DOF OC 2 8 o O f 5 6 f 8 f 11 O 16 be SJ 22 Big DOF ath G o NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 14 On this diagram you ll see that the bigger apertures are smaller f numbers which create a smaller DOF The smaller apertures are bigger f numbers which create a bigger DOF So that s actually an easy shortcut way to remember it smaller f stop numbers smaller DOF larger f stop numbers larger DOF That makes it a little bit easier to remember right Here is a sequence of shots demonstrating this change in DOF depending on the aperture value i Prit ANRE NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 15 See how with the smaller apertures the DOF increases and more of the image comes in focus Just to further drive this home here are some side view illustrations of how the aperture affects the DOF In each illustration the camera remains focused on the tree Point of focus J N y f 4
21. ir or an athlete running a play then you re in trouble Conversely a wider aperture will give you a nice blurry background but it will let in more light Since the aperture is letting in more light the shutter speed will have to let in less light to compensate That means you ll need a faster shutter speed But if you re trying to blur the motion of a waterfall for that cool cotton look then you have a problem The good news is often times it works in your favor For instance when shooting wildlife or sports you often want that narrow DOF for a blurry background Well that means you should use a wide aperture A wide aperture will let in lots of light which means you can let in less light with a faster shutter speed Since you re trying to freeze the motion of a moving subject anyway that works out pretty well O A wide aperture of f 2 8 let in a lot of light which allowed me to use a fast shutter speed of 1 6400 The wide aperture also gave me a small DOF which blurred out the background nicely NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 21 So really you mainly get into trouble when you want a big DOF which means using a small aperture but you also want a pretty fast shutter speed to freeze the motion Those two things don t go hand in hand Here s one example where I ran into this exact
22. n your exposure you went 1 stop brighter or you increased exposure by stop If you double the light again you went 2 stops brighter than your original exposure If you cut the amount of light in half you went 1 stop darker It s always relative to another exposure value These stops are the measurement system for light in photography and it s how we calculate exposure equivalent exposure settings and more They are very important to understand Last week I showed you how the shutter speed 1s measured in time but it moves in stops If you double the length of your shutter speed you ll let in twice as much light or 1 stop more light If you decrease your shutter speed by half you ll let in half as much light or 1 stop less And of course the shutter speed is divided up into third stop increments so that you can make smaller jumps in exposure I also mentioned last week that the aperture and ISO also move in stops They each have their own measurement units like the shutter speed but they move in stops So you can literally go say three stops brighter with the shutter and three stops darker with the aperture and they will cancel each other out to create an exactly equivalent exposure as you started with So we covered one of your three exposure tools last week with the shutter speed I showed you how it impacts the image how it impacts exposure and how stops play into it Let s do the same with the aperture NICK CAR
23. problem Here I wanted a big DOF so everything would be in focus from front to back That meant I needed to use a small aperture of f 18 This small aperture didn t let in very much light so I was forced to use a long shutter speed which caused the grass blowing in the wind to blur So when figuring out your aperture you ll need to keep those two things in mind 1 How much DOF do you want in your shot 2 What apertures will give you an acceptable shutter speed TWO FINAL IMPORTANT NOTES ON DOF We just learned all about the aperture and how it affects DOF and most courses would stop there But there are two more sections I want to cover before calling it a day OTHER THINGS THAT AFFECT DOF Yes the aperture affects the DOF But that isn t the only thing that affects the DOF in your shot There are two other important variables that impact DOF NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 22 The first is the distance to your subject The closer you get to something the smaller DOF gets The further away your subject is the bigger DOF gets So for close up photography of bugs and flowers it can be difficult to get a big DOF An aperture of f 4 may give you a DOF that s literally razor thin But if you keep your aperture at f 4 and now you go to photograph a mountain that s a mile away your DOF will expand to cov
24. r speed can negate a change in the aperture For example let in 2 stops more light with a wider aperture and let in 2 stops less light with a faster shutter speed and the image will remain the same brightness This gives us a lot of options for exposure settings Last week I showed you how the shutter speed has a side effect on the image in which motion blur is rendered differently Well surprise surprise the aperture has a side effect too Its side effect is the depth of field Depth of field can be defined simply as the area of the image that appears in focus from front to back Side to side everything will always be equally in focus meaning anything that is the same distance from you will be in focus equally A person 10 feet away from you will be equally in focus as the tree next to them that s also 10 feet away The mountain in the background though that s 3 miles away probably won t be in focus That s where depth of field comes in In photography we can have different depths of field often abbreviated DOF A small or narrow depth of field DOF would be when only a small amount of the image is in focus from front to back A large or wide depth of field DOF would have much more in focus from front to back For example Only a small part of this image is in focus from front to A great distance in this scene is in focus from front to back because it has a small depth of field back because the image has
25. s into account the area of the aperture opening which brings in weird numbers like pi and r That means we get weird numbers like 5 6 and 2 8 and 3 5 for the f stop They look like weird numbers with seemingly random decimals but you d get the same numbers if you were to actually measure the diameter of the aperture opening plug all the numbers into the formula and actually work it all out for yourself But until you do that I don t recommend ever doing it by the way f 5 6 won t really make much sense to you Basically you re just going to learn how these numbers affect the image because that s what s important Just keep in mind that right now f 5 6 might mean nothing to you But 1 000 pictures from now you ll know exactly what it means As if all this math stuff wasn t confusing enough the folks who invented the aperture decided to throw one last curveball at you It s one very important detail about the aperture and you ll really need to burn this one into your brain That is The smaller the f number the larger the aperture The larger the f number the smaller the aperture Again small f number large aperture large f number small aperture NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 5 For example OOS 10 f 20 See how the smaller numbers are bigger holes and the bigger numbers ar
26. t Remember a stop is a halving or doubling of light So these apertures will let in 1 stop more light as you move left and 1 stop less light as you move right NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 9 For example If you go from f 5 6 to f 8 you ll cut the light in half 1 stop darker If you go from f 4 to f 2 8 you ll double the light 1 stop brighter If you go from f 11 to f 16 you ll cut the light in half 1 stop darker If you go from f 32 to f 22 you ll double the light 1 stop brighter Get it Look at the following pictures Notice how they are all 1 stop apart and their apertures are 1 stop apart The shutter and ISO settings were the same in each picture f1 500 and ISO 400 1 stop 1 stop brighter brighter f 11 8 f 5 6 And like the shutter speed these f stop numbers are divided up into third stop increments f 2 8 13 2 13 5 f 4 145 f5 f 5 6 163 f 7 1 f 8 9 f 10 f 11 13 14 f 16 18 20 f 22 25 f 29 1 32 G Again the numbers don t have any visual pattern but if you take any aperture and move 3 spaces to the right youll get an aperture that s 1 stop darker Take any aperture and move 3 spaces to the left and you ll get an aperture that s 1 stop brighter NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN
27. the aperture you ve chosen When you look through your viewfinder your camera s aperture is wide open no matter what Even if you ve chosen a really small aperture so you can get a big DOF and a sharp background the view through your viewfinder is through the widest aperture your lens has So let s say you re going to use an aperture of f 32 because you want everything in focus from front to back But your lens s maximum aperture 1s f 4 Well when you frame up your shot and look through the NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 23 viewfinder the image you see is at an aperture of f 4 not f 32 So the DOF you see in the viewfinder is not the DOF you ll get in the picture This ts what you see through the viewfinder This is how the image will turn out DOF of lens s max aperture of f 4 DOF of user selected aperture of f 32 The aperture doesn t close down to what you ve chosen until you actually take the picture At all other times the aperture is wide open When you look through the viewfinder you re looking through your lens s widest aperture Camera manufacturers design their cameras to operate this way so that you have the brightest image possible when looking through the viewfinder It makes composing the shot easier But let s say you want to preview the DOF you ll get at f 20 you want to know
28. ve chosen an aperture smaller than the maximum for your lens DOF Preview Button DOF Preview Button VIDEO PRESENTATION Go to the Curriculum Homepage where you got this lesson guide and watch the Video Presentation entitled The Aperture Explained ASSIGNMENT Using the information in this week s lesson guide and the cheat sheet provided at the Curriculum Homepage answer the following questions 1 If I change my aperture from f 8 to f 11 did I let in more or less light How many stops more or less 2 If I change my aperture from f 4 to f 7 1 did I let in more or less light How many stops more or less 3 What aperture lets in 1 stop more light than an aperture of f 32 4 What aperture lets in 2 stops less light than an aperture of f 2 8 5 What aperture has a greater DOF f 6 3 or 9 Which one lets in more light NICK CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY WWW NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM INFO NICKCARVERPHOTOGRAPHY COM FREE PREVIEW HOW TO SHOOT IN FULL MANUAL WEEK 2 25 Email your answers to me at info nickcarverphotography com Then put your camera on aperture priority mode Av for Canon and A for Nikon and shoot a single subject that has a background at least 10 feet away Keep your lens at a focal length of 50mm or longer Take pictures of this subject at different apertures to see how it affects DOF Email me 2 pictures one with a small DOF and one with a big DOF THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT THE APERTURE
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