How to Take Better Pictures {learning all about aperture}

The image sensory is the mechanism inside a camera which converts the light pattern captured with each shot into signals that in turn, the camera converts into digital coding and this coding is saved on your memory card. The better scope of light allowed in, the less grainy your pictures will be. Because DSLRs have better mechanics, allowing more light to stream in, even as the pixels improve on point and shoots, they can’t keep up with the image quality of pictures on a DSLR.  That’s not to say that point and shoots aren’t handy for some situations, but for portraits and photography you hope to frame, your best quality will come from a DSLR.

After several years of having my DSLR, I think it’s time for me to work towards great shots rather then just good shots.  My Photographer’s (aka, my hubby) favorite feature on the DSLR camera is the f-stop, aka the aperture. He thinks this feature is what makes a photograph interesting and professional.   In my words, the f-stop is what allows a subject to be in perfect sharp focus and everything in the background is blurred.  How blurry the outside is can be controlled by the f-stop.  The higher you set your f-stop, the larger the area in focus will be.  The lower you set your f-stop, the smaller the area in focus will be.

In application, if you’re taking a scenery picture you will want your f-stop to be at a higher setting.  Probably somewhere between f/8 and f/11.  If you’re taking a close up picture with a 50mm lens (my photographer’s favorite lens), you’ll want to lower your f-stop, perhaps as low as f/1.8, this low setting will give you the blurred background effect.

In addition, the f-stop also plays an important role in your photography’s lighting.  The lower the f-stop, the more light is let in AND the higher the f-stop, the less light is let in.   On a really sunny day or in a well lit room you are able to set your f-stop high, (f/22 being the highest, but my Photographer never goes that high) and in a low lit area, a lower f-stop may be more conducive.

This week I’m going to play around with my f-stop, aka aperture a whole lot and get comfortable with it and I’ll post back my results and see what you think.  Grab your camera manual and find where your f-stop button is located on your camera and start using it!  Do you see in the above picture that my camera is set to f/4?!  It’s that easy!  I know I’m not the only one holding an expensive camera and not using it for all it’s worth.  Let’s work on learning our cameras and start producing some high quality pictures!!!

{f/1.8 – smaller depth of field (notice the blurred vases)