The Smooth Guide to Photography
              How to get started ...
  • Basic Camera Equipment
    • Standard Camera Lenses
    • Equipment and Materials
    • Etiquette
    • Camera Care
    • Picture Elements
  • Health and Safety
    • Responsibilities
    • What the Law Requires
    • Safety in Photography
    • Safety in the Darkroom, Processing Room + Studio
    • First Aid
  • Film
    • Shutter Speeds
    • Aperture
    • Exposure
    • Lighting Conditions
    • Film Processing
  • Black + White Film
    • Developing Times
    • Processing
    • Tank, Spiral + Core
    • In the Darkroom
    • Printing Papers
    • Exposure for Multigrade Paper
    • Assessing Negatives
    • Printing Film
    • Making a Contact Sheet
    • Making a Test Strip
    • Processing the Print
    • Using the Enlarger
    • Film Cropping
    • Burn-In and Dodging
    • Photograms
  • Technical Term Glossary
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G - H - I
    • L
    • M - N - O
    • P - R
    • S
    • T - U - V - W
Aperture   -   F/stops ... The amount of light let into the camera
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Picture
  • The aperture is a hole in the lens formed by a series of metal blades. These close down when the shutter release is tripped.
  • The size of the hole is known as an f/number or f/stop
                                                BRIGHT SCENE      ...           Use a small aperture
                                                DARK SCENE          ...           Use a large aperture


  • The aperture helps to determine how much of the picture comes out sharply focused and how much does not.
  • The zone of sharp focus is called the 'depth of field' and it is important to know how to control this.
  • The higher the f/stop, the greater the depth of field - eg:  the higher the f/stop the smaller the hole.


 For greater depth of field - close-up and background in focus ... landscapes
 Use a small aperture - i.e. f/16
 Much more of the scene will come out sharp
 f/22 = small aperture = great depth of field

 f/5.6 = medium aperture = focus on subject with small depth of field

 For shallow depth of field - close-up and background blurred ... portraits
 Use a large aperture - i.e. f/2
 The background will be out of focus

 f/1.8 = large aperture = subject focused


ACCESSIBILITY AND FONT ADJUSTMENT
SITE MAP
Acknowledgement:  
Tutor:  Peter Perry

These notes are an accumulation of those written by myself - or obtained from the College during the course.
  • Putney Public Library
  • Wandsworth Reference Library
  • Earlsfield Library

​This is not a commercial site.
Polly Healy  - Course Work :  2000
SOUTH THAMES COLLEGE,  LONDON, SW18 2PP
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Copyright:  THE SMOOTH GUIDE TO PHOTOGRAPHY - How to get started ...
pollyhealy@live.co.uk
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                        See other Smooth Guide sites:
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www.englishlanguagetips.com
www.smoothguide-mahjong.com
www.smoothguide-internetfundamentals.com
www.smoothguide-kenyacoast.com
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www.smoothguide-sunbury.com
  • Basic Camera Equipment
    • Standard Camera Lenses
    • Equipment and Materials
    • Etiquette
    • Camera Care
    • Picture Elements
  • Health and Safety
    • Responsibilities
    • What the Law Requires
    • Safety in Photography
    • Safety in the Darkroom, Processing Room + Studio
    • First Aid
  • Film
    • Shutter Speeds
    • Aperture
    • Exposure
    • Lighting Conditions
    • Film Processing
  • Black + White Film
    • Developing Times
    • Processing
    • Tank, Spiral + Core
    • In the Darkroom
    • Printing Papers
    • Exposure for Multigrade Paper
    • Assessing Negatives
    • Printing Film
    • Making a Contact Sheet
    • Making a Test Strip
    • Processing the Print
    • Using the Enlarger
    • Film Cropping
    • Burn-In and Dodging
    • Photograms
  • Technical Term Glossary
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G - H - I
    • L
    • M - N - O
    • P - R
    • S
    • T - U - V - W