aperture

[Kenjo]

Hi i am new to photography and i am having trouble with aperture shutter speeds depth of field and that sort of stuff i have taken a lot of pictures so I know a little,just enough to be dangerous does any body out there have any tips for me!!!!!!

 

[Anscojohn]

I suggest going to the library and reading every basic book on photography you can find. Save your film for the time being.

 

[ann]

take a look at peterson's "understanding exposure". that should get you started.

 

[Pinholemaster]

Shutter speed and aperture are in what is called a 'reciprocal' relationship. Henry Horenstein's book on Basic Photography has a great description of this in his class textbook on photography. http://product.half.ebay.com/Black-and-White-Photography_W0QQtgZinfoQQprZ98033#othereditions

There is a newer 3rd edition, but the second edition covers what you need.

When I say reciprocal, think in opposites. When you move your shutter speed up in speed, your aperture must open up to let more light in, and thus reducing your depth of field. Conversely, when you stop down on your aperture to gain more depth of field, you must slow down your shutter speed to let more light in.

Each whole f/stop change in aperture is equal to a change of shutter speed. Example: changing one's aperture from f/8 to f/11 means you must slow your shutter speed from, say, 1/500 to 1/250.

Good luck. Shoot lots of film testing out various apertures on one subject to see how differently the subject is rendered.

 

[dwdmguy]

Bryan Peterson's "Exposure" is very much worth it. Great book for advanced or beginners.

 

[JBrunner]

2 Threads merged, one thread deleted.

 

[Allen Friday]

Horensten's Back and white Photography, has a very good explanation of shutter speeds and apertures. You might just take a trip to B&N or Boarders, or your local library, and spend a few hours reading basic introductory books.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

I have a tutorial on my website that spells it out pretty easily.

http://home.comcast.net/~flash19901

 

[nicefor88]

To make it simple:

Shutter speed and aperture are linked. You close one stop, then you have to set one speed slower to keep the same exposure, and vice versa. For instance 1/125 at f4 equals 1/60 at f5,6 (1/60 lets light in twice as much as 1/125 but f5,6 reduces an equal amount of light coming in from f4)

Depth of field is more tricky. It depends on the lens you use, the distance between you and your subject and aperture. Just to keep it basic.
Wide-angle lenses have more DoF than telelenses. Also, the closer you are from your subject, the less DoF you get. A small aperture (f11, 16, etc) will increase DoF.

John is right, get a good book on the technical aspects of photography or just browse on the internet.

Good luck!

 

[Q.G.]

To keep the DOF thing simple, just remember two things:
1) the bigger something appears in the photo, the smaller DOF will be.
2) the smaller the aperture (i.e the bigger the f-stop number), the bigger DOF will be.
And that actually is all there is to it.

 

[nickandre]

Don't take the picture unless the needle points to correct exposure. Make sure you set the film speed on the camera to match the roll of film. Aperture controls how much light enters through the lens, shutter speed controls how long the light is exposed. You should generally only take pictures if your shutter speed is fast enough to make the picture sharp, 1/the focal length, usually 50mm or something like that so 1/60th of a second. Also, a larger aperture will have less in focus.

 

[RJS]

John and Barbara Upton put out a very complete, well illustrated and readable text book for photographers at the college level. If you learn what's in it you will know a great deal. A really good foundation in theory and practical photography. It will answer just about all your questions.

 

[removed account4]

henry horenstein's book is great!

 

[Whiteymorange]

Try here for an introduction.