Complete guide to APERTURE - Is F8/F11 aperture settings really the best for Landscape Photography?

hmm hi guys and welcome to this week's video is a tutorial it's a tutorial all about your aperture knowing and understanding how your aperture works will greatly increase the way that you could be creative with your photography for any genre photography's of science so if you get to know the science a bit more then trust me it can only help and improve your photography before you switch off this video is designed for beginners and intermediate photographers alike but if you think you know all about how your aperture works do me a favor take this quick test I want you to take a look at this picture when it flashes up and I'm gonna give you 10 seconds to tell me what aperture you believe the images or the image was shot at bearing in mind the subject which is these two fantastic Ammy corgi vehicles from the 1960s all originals by the way they weren't moved so I didn't move them okay right so I'll flash the image up and you've got 10 seconds let's make it 5 seconds let's put you under a bit more pressure I'm gonna give you five seconds for you to tell me what aperture you believe these were shot at first image go look at the gorgeous shallow depth of field in that image well it was shot at f-16 how many of you said f 2.8 or f/4 now take a look at this next image go well that was shot at F 5.6 there's not much difference between them though is there between that 16 and F 5.6 you'd expect it to be a much greater difference than that what about this last one go that was shot what we call really wide open which means it was shot at 2.8 that's your apertures for you so I'm guessing some of you right now slightly come used well if you are then stick around because this tutorial is for you before we move on let's take a quick look at these pictures side by side the picture on the left hand side was shot at f-16 and yet clearly it has a much shallower depth of field than the picture on the right-hand side that was taken at 5.6 so some of you that think that you know how your aperture works are probably making an assumption right now that I've messed up and I've got my pictures on my settings the wrong way around well I haven't the picture on the left hand side was deathly shot at f-16 the picture on the right hand side was definitely shot at 5.6 and I didn't move the cars any distance away from each other they never moved at all I used exactly the same lens and the same camera to shoot both of the images now the reason why the picture on the left-hand side has a shallower depth of field than the picture on the right-hand side is because there is an anomaly when it comes to how your aperture works there is no not an anomaly but I'm going to cover that anomaly towards the end of this video when I create a summary of how your aperture works if you're desperate to find out what that summary is then you can skip to this time stamp now or just wait until you get to the summary part of the video right let's get down to the science of photography and the reason why I want to get to the science of photography because photography is a science irrespective of the camera make model brand or even type photography is a science mirrored mirrorless medium format Micro Four Thirds it's irrelevant the fact is your photography is a science and it all works in exactly the same way so what is your aperture well there's two things to discuss here one is how your aperture controls light two which is the most excited part is the creative aspect of your aperture so what your aperture creates in term of creativity well let's talk about the light to begin with your aperture is just a hole that lets light through onto your sensor your aperture lives in your lens and your camera controls the aperture but the aperture lives in your lens so remember that it's very important that did change a bus is slightly going back to maybe some of the really earlier 1960s there were some oddball cameras where the aperture was controlled within the camera but it's irrelevant the fact is it did exactly the same job so number one your aperture is just a hole that lets light through without stating the obvious you have a large hole that will obviously let lots of light through and in gradients it goes all the way down until it's a very small hole that doesn't allow much light through at all there you go so in terms of light your aperture lives in your lens and it's simply a hole that lets light through nothing any more complicated than that an actual fact let me grab my camera if I just wind this film camera on I've got it set to bulb mode that means now when I depress the fire button the shutter will stay open as long as I keep my finger depressed on the fire button now as you can see it's a very very small hole a very small hole so as I turn the dial to open the hole you could see now the hole getting larger and larger and larger obviously when it gets larger it will allow more light through onto your sensor and the opposite way around smaller allow in less light onto your sensor so irrespective of what camera make model brand how cheap it is how expensive it is your lens or your aperture works in exactly the same way pretty cool I hadn't it 18:39 cameras were putting into production for the masses for the public and the science and technology is exactly the same today as it was then how cool is that so now we've established how light falling through the glass on your lens travels through the aperture that controls the amount of light that now falls on to your Center I think the best way of demonstrating this is to do it the old-fashioned way on a piece of paper using a pen so let's have a quick look at this now then so let me let me lay out what is likely to be most apertures in most lenses let's have a look then so what we're talking about now then is large half the size until we get a very small one okay so without stating the obvious there representative of the apertures that are currently or is likely to be in the lens that you have on your camera now now this is where people get start leak infused when we now add the numbers to represent or the numbers that represent the size of the holes watch let me give an example the first one is let's assuming that your lens can go as wide open as 2.84 so 5.6 f8 f11 f-16 and f-22 F stands for focal okay right now so there we've got an array of different size holes different apertures allowing light to pass through onto your sensor and they are represented by these numbers now the only confusing part of this scenario is the fact that the largest hole is represented by the smallest number and the smallest hole is represented by the biggest number but if you can get your head around that then it's really really easy to understand but you do have to get your head around that and when you first ad out in photography if you're new to this art then sometimes it can be a little bit bewildering but f 2.8 you might have that on your lens you might not have that on your lens if you turn the aperture on the front of your lens then when it gets wider and wider and wider if you actually zoom out and then turn your aperture dial until it gets wider and wider and wider then you'll end up with the smallest number that your lens will allow because and they can vary greatly a lot of lenses will go wider and wider and wider again and of course some lenses will go smaller and smaller and smaller again so in terms of your aperture and what these numbers actually mean well in this particular instance F 2.8 is a small number and it's represented by a very large hole F for believe it or not is half the size and five point six is half the size again so as these travel down here each in this particular instance is getting half the size half the size and half the size all the way down to 2.8 and then it goes twice as big twice as big and twice as big these are just what we call prime numbers is just the easy numbers to remember if you want to get science and start learning the numbers then roughly these are the numbers that you need to learn the chances are I don't get to confusion at this stage but your camera will be set in increments of third that means if you are able to get to F 2.8 then it'll be one two three clicks before it gets to f4 one two three clicks to get to F five point six each one of these is represented by one stop of light in actual fact every time you double or half one of your three elements ISO aperture or shutter speed whether you double or half any one of the three of them that is called one stop of light okay so now that we've established what these numbers mean relative to the size of the hole what else does that aperture contribute to this wonderful world of photography well your aperture controls depth of field depth of field is an amount of image that's in focus as opposed to an amount of image that's out of focus and the easiest way to remember these numbers relative to the amount of depth of field that they control is simply this the smaller the number the shallower the depth of field the greater the number the greater the depth of field now that we've covered how your aperture works you're probably slightly confused by these two pictures let's put these two pictures back up again because I clearly said that a small number creates a shallow depth of field and a big number creates a great depth of field a much larger depth of field so surely I must have got these pictures the wrong way around all the settings are wrong way around well look I haven't let me explain to you what the anomaly is and the anomaly is simply this watch if you imagine if I photographed this car from here this is my camera Here I am photographing the car straight on didn't really matter what angle the cossacks irrelevant I'm photographing the car from this angle aiming this way now if only opted for a shallow depth of field then let's assume in your lens we'll go down to two point eight maybe three point five if it's a kit lens then focus in from here on to the car here the shallow depth of field is only this amount hey I'm at remember at two point eight of three point five I'm at this amount now I'm not going to change the settings on the camera at all but watch this is where the anomaly happens camera I'm not going to change the settings I'm not going to move the car but I'm going to move the camera away from the car as I move the camera away from the car without adjust in the settings that shallow depth of field starts to increase that's the only anomaly that you have to know and understand about your aperture but watch that's at two point eight maybe three point five I'm really close I'm really close to the vehicle if I shot this at f-16 the shallow depth of field is only that much it's very slight the difference is very very slight simply because the camera is so close to the subject that I'm photographing but when I now at f-16 moved the camera further away that will instantly grow and grow and grow exponentially as the camera moves further and further away so how I tricked you into until you believe in that I've messed up is simply this I photographed the car the first shot at f-16 that creates the shallow depth of field simpler by moving the camera as close as I possibly could but then one eye and I got a shallow depth of field say that much it's irrelevant roughly that much but then well I opted for the five point six image that I'm making a comparison with five point six is that much but I move the camera further away when I move the camera further away obviously I then zoomed into the picture I then ended up with a much greater depth of field at five point six than what I did at f-16 when I was much closer to the vehicle so yeah okay it it's a little bit of a trick granted but how many people actually knew that the shallow depth of field really is much more pronounced and is only really visible when you focus close to the subject so I'll give you an example when we teach here in the studio when we talk about your aperture I always tell people grab your camera grab a subject let's use a shallow depth of field and let's see if we can really really create a shallow depth of field image where the background is blurred more blurred and really blurred and so on and so forth and most people tend to set a subject up here and take your camera here no because you're so far away even with a shallow depth of field it's not pronounced so if you do want to play around with a shallow depth of field and experiment with it then remember the closer you are to the subject the more pronounced your depth of field will be carrying on with that summary let's talk about I mentioned earlier I was going to offer what I consider to be the best settings for landscape photographers well according to the science of photography it's got to be f-22 isn't it surely if you're a f-22 then everything from tippy-toe so as far as I can see will be in focus well that's correct that's absolutely correct the science doesn't like the science is correct except for one thing most lenses don't perform very well at the furthest point as in if you bought a lens that se offered a range of F 2.8 to f-22 then your lens won't perform brilliantly at its furthest point of 2.8 and its furthest point at f-22 yes the science will dictate the f-22 all landscape photographers in theory should you set the camera to f-22 and then just get on with it it's not really a problem but like I said the problem is is when you get to the furthest points in the ranges of the lenses they tend not to perform very well sometimes god f-22 I shoot minor f-22 I don't have a problem with mine if I need to extend that shutter speed then I don't mind closing that aperture right up to f-22 you'll see that on some of on a lot of my older videos I'm actually shooting at f-22 but because I mentioned about the anomaly as in the further away you are from the subject that shallow depth of field greatly increases therefore twofold one around about f/8 or f/11 tends to be the sweet spot in other words anywhere roughly in the middle of the range of your lens tends to be the sweet spot but f/8 and f/11 because the chances are you'll focus are roughly a third of the way into the frame those not only will perform better not only will be probably the sharpest settings within the range of your lens but because your focus is so far away on a mountain range then everything from tippy-toes to as far as the eye can see will be in focus at f/8 or f/11 it varies ever so slightly with different different types of cameras so a Micro Four Thirds for instance I won't get into that now but a Micro Four Thirds you're gonna be around about maybe F 5.6 or f/8 will be your sweet spot but either way it's the middle of the range irrespective of your camera make model or brand there you go I think we've covered your aperture and the most important thing to remember if you want to experiment with shallow depth of field the closer you are to the subject the more pronounced it will be that's it hopefully you've enjoyed this video if you have give it a thumbs up and subscribe and all the normal shenanigans and please don't forget to leave a comment below I like to have a bit of banter back and forth so it was good to have and read your comments Cheers

Channel: Gary Gough

Views: 36,964

Keywords: aperture, aperture settings, what is aperture, How to, guide to aperture, learn photography, photograph, camera, aperture for landscape photography, understand, beginner, starter, fstop, f-stop, shutter, iso, manual mode, how does your aperture work, best settings for landscape photography, tutorial, Landscape Photography settings, gary gough, photography, shutter speed, Photography

Id: YYCkVfrC6Gk

Length: 19min 4sec (1144 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 19 2020