10 PRO WAYS TO USE APERTURE

The main technical aspect of photography is capturing a well-exposed image, though given the levels of technology digital cameras now boast, it’s not exactly difficult these days. But the two main controls you use to make that exposure happen – the lens aperture and shutter speed – also perform other tasks that have a big influence on the success of every photo you take, so understanding what they do and how they do it is crucial.

The main role of the lens aperture is to control the flow of light through the lens to the camera’s sensor, which it does using a series of f-numbers – the smaller the aperture, the bigger the f-number and the less light is admitted (you already knew that, of course). But those f-numbers also control how much, or how little, of the scene or subject will be recorded in focus, so when you use your lens apertures creatively as well as technically you can achieve some amazing effects.

1 Use wide apertures for portraits

Draw focus onto your subject’s eyes

Short telephoto lenses in the 85-135mm range are said to be the best choice for traditional portraiture because they compress perspective a little, which flatters facial features. An additional benefit is that they also give shallow depth of field (DOF) at wide apertures, such as f4 or f2.8, so you can throw the background out of focus.

If you want to do that but also record all of your subject’s face in sharp focus, stick to an aperture of f5.6 and focus on your subject’s eyes. If you