One of the three settings affecting exposure, the aperture function could be likened to the human pupil; the larger the opening; the more light that is let in and vice-versa. The f-stop number refers to how wide the hole is.

Importantly. aperture is the primary tool for adjusting depth of field. The following graphic helps to reinforce how aperture also relates to the depth of field within a setting;

Whilst this is an important function, there are other aspects of photography which can be used to adjust the focus within a scene when framing a shot;
– Distance between the subject and background
– Distance between camera and the subject
– Focal length: wide angle (distorts), normal or telephoto (compresses)
– Sensor size: predetermined by the lens

The activity this week was about shooting through the F stops to gain an understanding of aperture and how it relates to depth of field practically.I struggled with this activity as my aperture setting on my camera as the other settings were shifting reciprocally in response to not only my manual aperture setting, but also the lighting in the environment. The result was that at some points I was struggling to take photos as my camera would not focus on anything in the shot. Revisiting my images now I can see that many taken outside did not really blur the background, despite the low aperture that I had set. After completing this activity I feel that I still have much to learn when it comes to the reciprocal relationship between exposure settings. This, I believe, is also clear in the shots that I took (including those which did not make it to this blog post).

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Above: shooting through F stops f/3.5, f/4.5, f/6.3, f/9

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Above: shooting through F stops f/3.5, f/4.5, f/5.6, f/7.1, f/8

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The shots above and below were both taken with the same aperture settings, in the same light. Yet they perfectly show my struggle with the camera’s focusing and recognising the depth of field. I found just how delicate the process can be with a variable lens. This meant that I had to take time adjusting my distance from the subject in order to get the depth of field exactly where I wanted it.

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