As you can see, this goes hand in hand with your camera’s aperture setting, and you can use one to balance out the other if you go with a fast shutter speed, you can use a wide aperture to compensate. The faster your shutter speed, the darker your overall exposure.
Common shutter speed are between 1/100s to 1/2000s, though there are plenty of situations where they go up to 1/8000s and down to 30s (or longer). Whereas, the shorter your shutter speed, the less light that hits the sensor, keeping your photo very dark.īecause the sun is bright, shutter speeds tend to be fast. The longer the shutter speed, the more light that hits the sensor, and the brighter your photo will turn out. Regarding exposure: Shutter speed and exposure have a basic relationship. Shutter speed refers to the length of time your camera sensor is exposed to the light.Īnd, like aperture, it affects two key image characteristics: You can use this for more intimate, engrossing images, like this one: Second, if you want to create a more realistic shot that really draws the viewer in, a deep depth of field is also the way to go. This is very common in landscape photography, where a narrow aperture and a deep depth of field is the norm. You’ll want to show off everything in the shot, which means keeping everything sharp. While selecting the proper aperture is really an artistic and personal choice, it’s worth memorizing a few guidelines that’ll help you quickly make a choice when you’re out shooting.įirst, if you have a very sweeping, gorgeous vista that’s interesting all throughout the scene, use a narrow aperture. Narrowing the aperture results in a darker exposure and a deeper depth of field effect.īut how do you decide which aperture is best for the type of scene you’re shooting? Basic Camera Settings: Choosing the Right Aperture Widening the aperture results in a brighter exposure and a shallow depth of field effect. The aperture controls both the exposure and the depth of field. And this causes the camera sensor to read a lot of light, and give a bright image: Now that you know what aperture actually is, let’s talk about what it actually does.īy dialing in low f-stops, you cause the aperture to open wide. This is usually in the f/22 to f/32 range, though I don’t ever recommend actually shooting at your lens’s minimum aperture an optical phenomenon called diffraction will ensure that any shots taken at f/22 and beyond will turn out far too soft. This is generally somewhere around f/1.2 to f/5.6, though there are some lenses with unusually wide maximum apertures and some lenses with unusually narrow maximum apertures.Īlso note that every lens has a minimum aperture. Note that every lens has a maximum aperture, which is the widest that the lens’s aperture can actually open.
Now, f-stops, also known as f-numbers, are written like this:į/1.2, f/2.8, f/5.6, f/8, etc., where the smaller f-numbers (e.g., f/1.2) correspond to the wider apertures. It’s essentially a hole that opens and closes on command, depending on the f-stop you dial into your camera. The aperture refers to a diaphragm that exists inside every camera lens.