Aperture
Aperture is an opening, hole or gap, which means in photography purposes, Aperture is what controls the brightness of the image that passes through the lens and falls on the image sensor.
Aperture is measured in what is called an "f-number" or "f-stop" which is shown as the letter f appearing before a number, for example f/5.
A lower f-number would create an image that is quite dark and under exposed in certain lighting. A lower aperture is more suitable for an image that is in a highly exposed scenery as it lets in less of the light to achieve a nicely balanced exposure.
A higher f-number would create and image that is very bright and over exposed in a certain lighting. This means a higher f-number would be more appropriate to use in a darker scenery as it allows most of the little light there may be, into the camera.
Blur and shutter speed
Research:
Subject Blur example Robert Frank
Franks use of the subject blur technique helps to show the viewer what Frank was focused upon while capturing the photo. This technique is perfect for that as it blurs out everything that is around the focused upon subject. The photo also achieves a quite ‘busy’ and ‘fast paced’ look to it as it is clear there is a lot of movement around the women captured. It also helps to portray the emotions felt my the women it is centred on as she seems to be tired and overwhelmed by her surroundings in the photo.
All blur example Paul Fusco
In this example of an ‘all blur’ photo by Fusco, it shows a group of people waiting for what seems like some form of transport. This is evident to the viewer as it is all out of focus and blurry like it would be if you were travelling past them. The blur technique is perfect to show this kind of atmosphere as it has a ‘fast paced’ element to it as the photography will have had to be taking the photo quick to achieve this look.
Freezing motion example Eadweard Muybridge
This ‘freezing motion’ capture by Muybridge is a perfect example of this technique and where this technique would be used. As the photo is of a horse racing this technique would be the only suitable technique to use to get an in focus shot of the racer as they would be going at such a high speed. Even though it is in focus, unlike the other examples, it still captures the ‘fast pace’ the others do as it shows the horse almost floating due to the ‘action shot’ taken.
Photos taken:
Took in 1/25 with f/6.4
Took in 1/25 with f/6.4
Took in 1/25 with f/6.4
Depth of Field
Depth of field (DoF) is the distance between the closest and farthest objects in a photo that appears acceptably sharp. It is calculated based on focal length, distance to subject, the acceptable circle of confusion size, and aperture. A photograph with a narrow DoF, only a small slice of the image is in focus. Conversely, with a large DoF, much more of the scene is sharp.
Taken with f/29 and 1/15
Taken with f/13 and 1/80
Taken with f/5 and 1/640
Focal length
Focal length is determined when the lens is focused at infinity. It tells us the angle of view, how much of the scene will be captured, the magnification and how large individual elements will be. The longer the focal length, the narrower the angle of view and the higher the magnification. It is measured in millimeters, eg 18mm.
Taken with 18mm
Taken with 35mm
Taken with 55mm
ISO
ISO refers to the sensitivity and the signal gain of the cameras sensor. The ISO setting is one of the 3 elements used to control exposure in the camera. A photo taken with a higher ISO, for example 6400, will come up very ‘noisy’. This means it will appear very grainy. A photo taken with a lower ISO, 100 or 200 (the most common ISO numbers) for example, won’t be noticeably grainy as it won’t appear’ noisy.
Taken with ISO 100
Taken with ISO 400
Taken with ISO 3200
