The 300mm shows more stars as the field is twice as large, but no *fainter* stars. Exactly the same amount of light is captured. In Astrophotography, a brighter image means more stars per unit of surface. The only difference is that a lower f/xx value (the 300mm in this example) collects more light *per unit of surface*, which means that the image appears brighter. Which one collects more light ? The 600mm !Ħ00/4 = 150mm and 300/2.8 = 107mm aperture. The f/value is a relative value.Īssume a Canon 600 f/4L and an 300mm f/2.8L. Only the absolute aperture (expressed in mm or inches) determines the amount of light touching the sensor, assuming the same sensor size and exposure time. Not on 500px yet? Sign up here to explore more impactful photography.Particularly in Astrophotography many people think that a larger aperture (expressed in f/xxx where xxx gets smaller) renders more light to the camera.
#Small aperture vs big aperture how to
Learning how to use aperture is fundamental to getting a well-exposed photo-and getting off auto mode-but that’s just the start. While certain aperture settings can be useful for different kinds of photography, with landscapes and portraits being the most-cited examples, understanding aperture is less about following a set of rules than it is about exercising creative control over your photos. We’ll dedicate a separate article to that topic as well, so stay tuned. Of course, you can also adjust your shutter speed manually to suit your needs. If you don’t like the exposure your camera chooses, you can click on the “+/-” exposure compensation to brighten or darken your image. If a certain aperture is critical to the look you want, you can set your camera to aperture priority (labeled ‘A’ or ‘AV’) from there, it will automatically adjust your shutter speed for a correct exposure, while adapting to the lighting conditions at hand.
Take the same shot with different aperture settings, and you’ll see your brightness and depth of field change accordingly. It takes some time and practice to get the right balance, but the more you experiment, the easier it will become. Of course, stopping down or narrowing your aperture means widening your depth of field, but it also means decreasing the amount of light entering your lens. Use a smaller aperture (higher f-number) to get the “sunburst” effect.
Just remember to protect your eyes, and don’t look directly at the sun. Depending on your lens, you might have to play around with different f-stops to find that nice middle ground or “sweet spot” where you get minimal diffraction and aberrations.Īnother fun effect to explore using aperture is the “sunburst” effect you can get these bright bursts of light beams if you’re shooting a landscape with a high f-number (small aperture) and the sun is poking through the mountains or trees. Open that diaphragm up too much, however, and you’ll leave the door open for lens aberrations. Your depth of field will increase, but you might forfeit that sharpness and detail, especially when you view your photo at 100%. It’s worth noting that constricting your aperture has the “side-effect” of increasing the diffraction in your photo when you start getting into the higher f-numbers, you might lose sharpness for this reason. DOP won’t determine what’s in focus but how much of the image is in focus in front of and behind your main subject.Ī wider aperture (lower f-number) is perfect for getting a soft, out-of-focus background, drawing the eye to your subject. If you’re shooting a detailed landscape, you might want to use a wide depth of field so that objects in front of you and far in the distance are all in focus however, if you’re shooting a portrait and want an out-of-focus background, you’ll need a narrow depth of field to get that effect. We explore depth of field more fully in this article, but to summarize, it simply refers to the distance between the closest and farthest objects in your photo that are “acceptably sharp.” Here’s where it starts to get interesting: aperture affects your exposure, but it also affects your depth of field. For that reason, a “fast lens” refers to one with a large maximum aperture, while a “slow lens” has a smaller maximum aperture. If your image is properly exposed, you’ll be able to see all those details in the sky, as in the case of the photo above.īecause it allows more light to enter the lens, a wider aperture means you can use a faster shutter speed while still getting a proper exposure. On bright days with lots of light, a smaller aperture (higher f-number) can help you avoid overexposed images.
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