| Aperture and shutter speeds affect your pictures | | | | speed not less than 1/focal length, the faster the |
| Aperture is the opening of the camera for the | | | | better. As an example, if you shoot using a 300 |
| light to reach the digital sensor or the film. The | | | | mm lens, you should shoot at a shutter speed of |
| aperture also determines the depth-of-field of | | | | 1/300 or greater. The reason behind this is that |
| your subject. The followings explain how the | | | | as you magnify the image you are taking, you |
| aperture affects your picture. | | | | are also magnifying the effects of camera |
| Big or large apertures (f1.4 to f.5.6) | | | | movement. You can counteract this by shooting |
| These apertures contribute to the shadow | | | | at a higher shutter speed or mounting you |
| depth-of-field of your subject. | | | | camera / lens on a tripod. |
| This means that the area of sharp focus on you | | | | How to maximizing sharpness:o If possible, always |
| subject is very small in terms of depth. For | | | | use a low ASA film or a low ISO sensitivity, this |
| example, you are taking three rows of people | | | | will prevent the photo from being too grainy |
| and you focus on the 1st row, the faces of those | | | | which affects the sharpness of your subject.o |
| in 2nd and the 3rd rows will not be as sharp as | | | | Some high end camera can set to higher ISO |
| the 1st row. These aperture settings can be | | | | without making the picture too grainy, so you |
| useful when you want to isolate subject of your | | | | must know the optimal ISO setting you can go |
| picture from the distracting surrounding which you | | | | without introducing too much grains.o Observe the |
| want to throw them out of focus. You would use | | | | rule when using zoom lenses, always set your |
| these settings mostly for taking portraits and | | | | shutter speed higher than 1/focal lengtho |
| close-up photography | | | | Depending on your eyesight, if your eyesight is |
| Small apertures (f16 to f32) | | | | good, try to do manual focusing when shooting |
| Small apertures increase depth-of-field which | | | | with wide open aperture like f2.8 to f3.5 so that |
| means that the foreground and background of | | | | out of focus will not occur due to recomposing |
| your picture are in focus if not sharply focus. This | | | | when using auto-focusing.o When taking human or |
| creates depth to your photograph drawing | | | | animal subjects, focus on the eyeo Always use a |
| attention of your viewer to the whole picture. | | | | tripod when taking low shutter speed shots. A |
| These settings usually apply to landscape | | | | heavy and firm tripod would be good but not |
| photography. | | | | always practical for walkabouts.o Never use the |
| Mid range apertures (f8-f11) | | | | widest aperture of your lens for shooting say |
| These settings are most common and are able to | | | | shooting f2.8 with a f2.8 zoom lens. Always shoot |
| render sharp pictures for general applications. | | | | at 1 - 2 stop smaller than the specified limits (say |
| Use high shutter speeds | | | | f4 - f5.6 for a f2.8 lens). This is due to the |
| A good rule to observe while taking pictures with | | | | construction of the lens and the glass elements |
| the telephoto lens, that is to shoot at a shutter | | | | involved. |