Lesson Two: Master Aperture

Lesson Two:  Depth of field & Aperture

·         Lens aperture controls depth of field.  Depth of field is the amount of distance between the nearest and the farthest objects in the picture.  In the following picture I used the depth of field to highlight my wedding bouquet. 

·         Lens aperture is the hole in the diaphragm of the lens that lets light into the camera.

·         Depth of field is caused by limitations of the human eye.  With a DSRL camera, the human eye will detect anything larger than 0.03mm in diameter as a blurred item .  Anything smaller than this will appear as a point instead of a circle and will appear sharp or in focus.

·         When a lens is focused it forms the light into a sharp point, focusing on what is closest to the lens.  Everything in the background is blurred, as seen in the following photo.  Although this is just a "weed", Queen Anne's Lace, It looks extra special when highlighted using aperture.

·         The eye is drawn to what is in focus and ignores the blurred items in a photograph.  Using lens aperture to adjust the depth of field helps the photographer to draw attention to the subject in a dramatic way.

·         The photographer can control the depth of field by adjusting the lens aperture. This can be done by making the hole in the diaphragm of the lens smaller.

·         For a landscape scene there should be sharpness in the foreground and the background.  In order to achieve this, the photographer should use a small aperture like f16 or f22.

·         For portraits, the subject should be the focus and the background should be blurred.   This can be achieved using a larger aperture value like f2.  This portrait of my son at a local park demonstrates how to highlight the subject rather than the background.  You know when you look at the picture that he is standing on a bridge , however your attention is drawn to him. 

·         The photographer should adjust the lens aperture to coincide with the shutter speed.  This is known as the law of Reciprocity.  The needs to increase when the shutter speed is faster;  more light equals less time.

Lesson two: Photos using Aperture Setting

Depth of field extends over a wide distance

Lesson One: Master Your Camera

Lesson One:  Master Your Camera             Due:  May 27, 2012

·         The features of my camera and their purpose

Compact Cameras

·         Most common

·          small simple and slim

·         Higher end compacts are capable of great images

·         Small sensors and lenses – can impede images

·         High number of automatic and scene modes

Superzooms or bridge cameras

·         Built to look like a DSLR (digital single-lens camera)

·         Large battery grip and large lens

·         Long focal reach

·         10x or more optical zoom power

·         Larger sensors and interchangeable lenses

·         Opportunities for more creativity

·         LCD and viewfinders

Hybrid or system Cameras

·         New to the market

·         Lighter and easier to use bodies without the DSLR mirror system

I have a Canon EOS Rebel  T3i

Megapixels are the number of pixels on the cameras sensor in millions.  My camera (Canon Rebel T3i) has 18 megapixels.  You have to consider the size of the sensor because smaller sensors may try to squeeze more pixels onto a smaller lens.  This can affect the picture quality.  

Focal Range depends on the lens you buy.  I have two lenses. 

1.       18 – 55mm : 18mm is the widest angle of this lens, 55mm is the telephoto capability

2.       50 – 250mm : 50mm is the widest angle of this lens, 250mm is the telephoto capability

Modes

·         A-DEP – Automatic Depth of field - objects will be in focus automatically

·         M – Manuel – I can set the shutter speed and the aperture manually

·         AV – aperture-priority – changing the depth of field – I can blur the background to make everything near look sharp.

·         TV – shutter-priority – Action shots.  I can change the shutter speed depending if I want blurred motion or frozen action.  This first shot is when I practiced with a lower shutter speed.

another example:

This next shot was when I practiced with a higher shutter speed.  I like the way it freezes the shot.

another example:

·         P – Program – the camera automatically sets the shutter speed and aperture to suit the subjects brightness.  This is called AE.

·         A+ - Scene Intelligent Auto – Fully automatic shooting – the camera continues to focus as needed, even with moving subjects.

·         Flash off – Disabling Flash – I could use this setting during events when flash photography is prohibited.  This could also be used to capture an ambient scene i.e. candlelight.

·         CA – Creative Auto Shooting – This setting allows me to easily change the depth of field, drive mode, flash firing and the ambience of the scene.  The defaults are the same as the A+ mode.

·         Portrait – blurs the background to make the subject stand out.  This setting makes skin tones and hair look softer.  The further the subject is to the background the better, the background will look more blurred.

·         Landscapes – I could use this when shooting wide scenery and night scenes.  This setting makes colors vivid and crisp images.

·         Close ups (flower) -  I could use this setting when I want to shoot pictures of flowers or other small things.   A macro lens would make small things appear larger.

·         Sports - shooting moving subjects like a child running or a moving vehicle.

·         Night Portrait – I could use this at night to get a natural looking exposure.

I am excited to start learning more about my camera!