Bacon Lettuce Photo

by Joe

It’s all about Aperture.

Aperture is what controls your cameras ability to create depth of field (DOF). Remember those nice portraits of someone with their face crystal clear and the background all blurry? That’s aperture. How about those photos of beautiful landscapes and sceneries where the foreground and background are all in focus? Aperture.

Here is an example, this is a little fun Valentine’s Day photo that I took.

Notice that part of the cupcake and the M&M are in focus while the rest of the image is blurred. That blur is called bokeh.

In technical info, the aperture is referred to as the f-stop. If you see data such as f/1.8 or f/22 it is referring to how open or closed the aperture is in the lens. The photo above was taken with a 50mm lens with an aperture of f/1.8

Think of aperture as the pupil of your eye. Expanding and contracting to allow light in but also allowing you to focus. If you close one eye, like a camera, and bring your finger close to your eye and focus on it, you will see bokeh in your peripheral vision.

To reduce the bokeh you just close down your aperture more by increasing the f-stop number. This will reduce the DOF.

Here is a photo that I took below is with an aperture of f/8.0

Notice that the background is clearer.

Here area couple diagrams.

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Now if you can think about how aperture works in coordination with shutter speed and ISO, you are on your way to taking great images.

by Joe

This is a picture of three year old Ella. I have three sons and so I am always amazed and entertained by the personalities of little girls. at three years old, Ella already has a strong sense of style and carries a matching purse with her everywhere she goes. Since I was doing this session on Valentine’s day - I told her mom to bring some red accents - the red bow in Ella’s hair was perfect.

It was a dreary day - but for me - these days are better for portraits than bright sunny ones. I wasn’t originally planning to stop at the railroad track - we just had to cross it on the way to our planned destination - but most of my best shots are unplanned.
I just set her on the rail and let her play with rocks for a few minutes - then called her name - and this is the look i got! Lucky me.

I used a Canon 5d, 400 ISO, 100 shutter speed, and 70-200mm 2.8 lens zoomed all the way out.

Using an aperture of 2.8 gives this photo a great depth of field. What does that mean? Notice how the subject, in this case Ella, is clear and the background is out of focus. That is a great quality that helps bring attention to the image. It also looks like Jaki added a layer of noise or some texutre to the image in post processing which gives it a classic feel.

by Joe

Exposure is a term that has a couple different meanings but the one we are going to be looking at is in the context of shutter cycles. All cameras have some sort of shutter, something that flips open the sensor/film and then shuts. That process is what “exposes” the sensor/film. Exposure is also the amount of time that you’ve left your sensor to capture the image. Ever get a picture that’s too dark? We would say that the photo is under exposed. Ever get a picture back that’s too light? Over exposed.

Almost all cameras come with built in light meters. Back in the day photographers would have to carry a light sensor separate from that of the camera. That sensor was called a “light meter” because it measured the amount of light and would recommend certain settings for the camera. Here are some photos of some light meters if you’re interested.

Ok, so all modern digital single-lens reflex cameras (or DSLR’s for short) all have built in light meters but what about Point and Shoot cameras (POS; no hidden meaning intended)? Well, yes, your POS camera does indeed have a light meter. That is how the camera can correctly adjust itself to get the best photo, however, most times you are not able to see it.

How to control your exposure?  You can control your exposure with a combination of ISO, aperture, and shutter speed.

I took these images on medium format film camera called a Holga. It’s a cheap toy film camera and it’s pretty easy to mess up a photo. The pictures below were taken at a church in Costa Rica.

Notice how one image on the left is too light and can barely make out the church, where as the other one is perfectly exposed?
The reason one photo is more exposed than the other is because I left the shutter open for too long. Changing the shutter speed is a way to change the exposure or the amount of light that hits your sensor/film. Which brings us to next weeks topic, shutter speed.