What is Aperture in Photography?

what is aperture in photography

Aperture is a common word in the world of photography. For anyone out there who wants to master photography, the knowledge of aperture is very important. In my initial days, it was very confusing and hard for me to understand the concept of aperture. But as I kept using my camera in manual mode, I understood it eventually.

In simple words, Aperture is the opening of the lens in your camera. When you hit the shutter button, a hole opens and closes inside your camera. The aperture will let you adjust the size of that hole. Bigger the hole, more light enters your camera. And smaller the hole, less light would enter inside the camera.

Aperture is measured in ‘f-stops’.

Larger apertures are given smaller f-stop numbers and smaller apertures are given larger f-stop numbers. For instance, f/1.4 is bigger than f/22. This is where I used to get confused a lot. But as I kept using the camera, I got adapted to it. Depending on the aperture you use, you will also have to adjust the ISO and Shutter speed accordingly to get your perfect shot.

Aperture and Depth of Field

Adjusting the aperture will impact the Depth of Field in your image. The Depth of Field refers to portion of your frame that is in focus. Larger Depth of Field means almost everything is in focus and it is achieved by a smaller aperture like f/11 or f/16.

Smaller Depth of Field means only a certain area of your photo is in focus and rest of it is blurred. And it is achieved by a bigger aperture value like f/1.4 or f/2.8.

Also read: What is ISO in Photography?

Since changing the aperture clearly impacts the depth of the field in your final output, choosing the right aperture is very important.

Let me now explain the difference with an example here below.

Aperture Example
An example on the usage of Aperture

Share your views on this post by commenting in the comments section below. If you have any doubts, you can comment on them as well, and I will get back to you very shortly.

You might also like: What is Exposure in Photography?

For more similar posts on photography, stay tuned with my blog.

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About the Author: Derin J Tom

A homosapien in the pursuit of lending this cosmic world a small contribution of my supersonic dumb thoughts through words.

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