Aperture What Is It ??

Aperture What Is It ??

The aperture controls the amount of light that reaches a digital camera sensor. An aperture acts much like the pupil of an eye. It opens wider as light decreases to let in more available light. It gets smaller when light increases to reduce the amount of light entering.

The combination of aperture and shutter speed are related, and effect the exposure value. The faster the shutter speed, the larger the opening of the lens and visa versa.

The diameter of an aperture is measured in f-stops. A lower f-stop number opens the aperture and admits more light onto the camera sensor. Higher f-stop numbers make the camera’s aperture smaller so less light hits the sensor.

When an aperture is opened up by one f- stop, the amount of light which reaches the sensor is doubled. F-stops are expressed in three different ways: f/8, f-8, and 1:8.

Aperture settings can be used creatively to control depth of field, how much of a photo is sharp in front and back of where you focus on the main subject. This technique is used for close-up and portrait shots.

F stop refers to the size of the lens opening while the shutter is open. The numbers are strange: f/1.8, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22,f/32 and f/64. These numbers are most often found on the lens barrel, and also appear in some viewfinder displays or in the LCD display on the top of modern 35mm cameras.

When you adjust the aperture setting from f/4 to f/5.6, you are cutting the size of the aperture opening in half, and when you change the aperture opening from f/11 to f/8, you are doubling the size of the lens opening. The larger the opening, the more light which is allowed to pass through the lens while the shutter is open, a smaller opening allows less light to pass through the lens while the shutter is open.