Comments on: What Is Aperture? (Understanding Aperture in Photography)

By: Wilfred

Wilfred — Sun, 05 Jul 2020 07:16:52 +0000

What a great explanation, Thank you so much. I’ve learned things I did not know.

By: Anuruddha Chandrasiri

Anuruddha Chandrasiri — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 05:44:22 +0000

Nice article. Great work. Thank you very much.

By: Suneel Suresh

Suneel Suresh — Thu, 19 Oct 2017 23:27:00 +0000

nice thanks, seem knowledgeable

By: Ski mask Remy

Ski mask Remy — Fri, 29 Sep 2017 14:51:00 +0000

Such a great article, almost grasped it!

By: Jorge

Jorge — Fri, 12 May 2017 05:18:00 +0000

Great article, but the top “Do you want to…” banner and the social media links on top of every image makes reading a painful experience on a mobile phone! I couldn’t go through the end.

By: KishoreTiwary

KishoreTiwary — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 19:28:00 +0000

Nice work buddy. Feeling delighted. Thanks.

By: arvind reddy

arvind reddy — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 09:44:00 +0000

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By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 12:40:19 +0000

In reply to Doyle. Wow, I don't remember high school physics at all, but I agree, understanding the f-stops is key to understanding aperture.

By: Doyle

Doyle — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 04:10:56 +0000

Another point on manual exposure… I learned photography in the days before light meters were common (let alone built into cameras). What is now known as ISO (International Standards Organization) was called ASA (American Standards Association) then, but the numerical value is the same. It refers to the sensitivity of the film (film “speed”) when light reaches it, or in digital cameras, the equivalent sensitivity when the sensor and processor do their magic before recording the image. In those dinosaur days, I had to go by the old rule of thumb, which is: (1) set your shutter speed at roughly the fraction of a second that corresponds to the ASA rating of the film, such as 1/400 second for 400 speed film. Then (2) set the aperture to F16 for bright sun, F11 for “cloudy but bright”, F8 for hazy daylight, F5.6 for shady areas, and so on. Electronic flash was unheard of; we had to use disposable flashbulbs when daylight was not sufficient. That brought us to have to use “guide numbers”. The guide number divided by the distance in feet from flash to subject would result in the correct F-stop. A guide number of 110, for example, would tell us to set the aperture at F11 if the subject was 10 feet away. You digital camera users have it SO easy today.

By: Doyle

Doyle — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 03:38:37 +0000

In high school physics class, we learned that light, from its point of origination (such as the midpoint of the lens passing it), decreases in intensity as the inverse square root of the distance (distance to the film or digital sensor.) Thus, it is an interesting mathematical exercise to note that F-stops or apertures are numbered in a logical progression. 1 is also the square foot of 1, 1.4 is the square root of 2, 2 is the square root of 4, 2.8 is the square root of 8, 4 is the square root of 16, and so on. That is why an aperture of F2.8 on any certain lens lets in twice as much light as F4, etc. If you know the reasons why the F-stops are numbered as they are, the matter of halving or doubling the shutter speed falls into place. F-stops are numbered the way they are so that each is double or half the value of the adjacent setting.