SUBSCRIBE VIA RSSAt first I was really excited by the thought of elevating my picture-taking ability with a fancy new camera. But one quick Google search later and I was smacked by the realization that I probably should have chosen a less complex hobby…like splitting the atom with a spork.
After attending the Photography Workshop at the EVO Conference in Utah, I was all worked up and motivated to take my interest in photography to the next level. Particularly inspiring was the presentation by Casey Mullins of MooshinIndy who offered both a technical and personal touch. I was pumped…she made it so easy to fall in love with.
I had also attended the session with Drew Bennett from BenSpark.com. He’s an awesome guy and obviously has a knack for photography. In fact, he’s been posting a new photo on his blog every day since he was like 5.
The workshop was pretty amazing and as I sat there staring at what real photos looked like, I was enthralled by all the fancy pictures, ideas, and helpful tips being shared amongst the 30 or so women in attendance.
One thing I noticed as I perused the room was that everyone in the workshop absolutely loved their cameras.
Not as much as this guy…
…but they loved their cameras.
Me? Not so much.
While they ogled over each other’s equipment the way men ogle over horsepower (not that I’ve ever witnessed this. I’m not really a car guy. I’m just assuming this is what car guys do), I prayed that nobody asked me, “So, what’s under the hood?”
Fortunately, no one at the workshop asked to see my little handheld Ghetto Cam. If they had, I would have been shunned, for it’s really just a video camera posing as a camera. It didn’t have any of the fancy manual settings that all the cool kids had.
My camera’s instructions were simple:
- 1) Aim camera at object.
2) Press the biggest button you can find.
3) Enjoy the blurry rendition.
After seeing how the attendees’ faces contorted when someone mentioned “Autofocus” (you’d think they were being forced to lick unripened lemons), I thought it best to lay low. The more they spoke fluently about the manual dial atop their cameras, the more I realized I had a lot to learn.
All I really know about these dial dealios is that the mountain icon means I can take pictures of things far away. Like mountains. And that the little flower icon means I can take pictures of things really close. Like flowers. Beyond that, I’m lost, and without a people icon or an animal icon or a dinner plate icon, it’s probably best that I leave the camera in Idiot Mode.
One thing I did pick up is that something called “F-Stop” can apparently cure all photographic ills. Regardless of the question from the gallery, the ol’ F-Stop trick seemed to be the answer. Picture too blurry? “Change the F-Stop”. Picture too sharp? “Change the F-Stop”. Too bright? Too dark? “Change the F-Stop”.
No matter the dilemma posed, everyone nodded with collective agreement whenever an expert ended a sentence with “F-Stop”.
“How do you expect to heal the economy, President Obama?”
“Together, as one, we’ll change the F-Stop.” (The gallery applauds, a nation rejoices).
It all seemed so easy now. Master “F-Stop” and I’ve got it made. I was stoked.
Aside from the inspiration I walked away with at EVO, my father is also an amazing photographer. He obviously knows what he’s doing and seems to effortlessly take some amazing photos.
So when my dad said he was going to upgrade and sell his Canon EOS Rebel XTi 10 MP Razzle-Dazzle camera along with an acronym-laden lens called a Canon 70-300mm F4-5.6 USM IS, I scooped ‘em up in hopes of taking my interest to a whole new level.
I had NO idea what I had just purchased, but I had seen the photos he was able to take with this camera, so I bought it. I also knew that it was well taken care of. Baby chicks can only WISH they were treated as gently.
Thinking I now had a REAL grownup camera, I felt primed to start snapping the same kinds of amazing photos displayed by the workshop professionals, Mr. Spark, and my father. All I really had to figure out was this F-Stop thing.
And that’s when it got ugly.
As my wife and I drove home from the mall today, I decided to do a quick Google search and get this F-Stop setting mastered by the time we pulled in the driveway.
What I faced was the harsh reality that I’ll probably never figure this out.
The very first sentence from Wikipedia’s description, which was written by an ex-Harvard professor ostracized by his peers for being too smart…and vague, completely lost me.
To make matters worse, even this dude’s “dumbed down” version of his diabolical definition left me bewildered.
And I quote…
“…in simpler terms, the f-number is the focal length divided by the “effective” aperture diameter. It is a dimensionless number that is a quantitative measure of lens speed, an important concept in photography.”
Ah. Thank goodness for simpler terms.
So, hypothetically speaking, assuming I possessed the intellect of an orangutan, are there perhaps even more simpler terms? Maybe some uber-dummy terms? Like “Photography for Dumb Dummies” kinds of terms?
Let me put it this way: If you had to explain F-Stop to a two-year old, or a 39-year old with the photographic mental capacity of a two-year old, what would you say?
Seriously, people. What would you say?
Hypothetically speaking.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Lower f-stops = shallower depths of field so you can blur the background of the image. It also lets more light into the picture so if you want a nice blurry background in a picture, make sure your ISO and shutter speed reflect that. The lower the f-stop, the higher the shutter speed (in most situations) so you don't let TOO much light in and the picture becomes blown out.
To not go too much more technical…The lower the f-stop, the blurrier the background, and the prettier the picture
I have absolutely no idea about your topic, but I laughed out loud reading this. Cluelessness, such as ours, is a beautiful thing.
@Missy, you lost me at ISO. And shutter speed. Actually, depth of field did a number on me as well. You're dealing with a "point, shoot, disappoint" photographer here. But I definitely appreciate the last sentence. That I can wrap my head around.
Alright, here I go. Think of an F-stop as a hole that lets in light to your sensor. The sensor is digital and it's responsible for capturing the image. Now, if your f-stop is low (f/4), then your aperture is wide open (the hole is open as much as it can, which lets in the most amount of light). If your f-stop is high (f/22), then your aperture is very small (lets in least amount of light). The aperture is determined by the lens you're using. In your case, f/4 is the lowest it can go. At f/4, your depth of focus is small (but not as small, as, say f/1.8). Think of depth of focus as the area in focus. So, if you look at your finger and hold it up in front of your face, your finger is in focus and the background is blurred. To get a similar effect with your camera, you'd use the lowest f-stop you can (f/4).
Now, if you shoot in Av mode – that's Aperture value priority. In this mode, you select the f-stop, and the camera will choose the right shutter speed (length that the aperture stays open) to "get a good exposure." Still with me? Ok, let's say you want to take a photo of someone's face and have a blurry background – you'd kick it into Av mode, at f/4 – and take the photo. Now, let's say you want to stop helicopter blades – you use Tv. That's time value, and it's the opposite of Av. You choose the shutter speed, and the camera will choose the right aperture to get a "good exposure". So, if you put the camera into f/1000 – it'll stop helicopter blades. Or, if you shoot running water at 1 s (1 second), it'll show the water blurred (probably even less).
Hopefully this makes sense. I recommend the articles at: http://digital-photography-school.com/
I thought blogging was an expensive hobby. It's got nothing on photography! I'm learning too. It's been fun and I can tell I'm going to enjoy it.
PS- That's a great lens you got!
Melanie @ Mel, A Dra´s last post…Smart and Final Extra- Revisited
I was going to tell you that the F-Stop was when you stopped cussing out your camera before taking the picture….but then actual smart people answered first. I will retreat into the shadows with my dreams of one day owning a "real" camera.
Tracie´s last post…Is it Breakfast Time
A Canon…sigh. At least I'll know who to come to for advice. By the time I manage to justify one of these babies, you should have it all worked out.
Ms Catch´s last post…New Age Dress-ups
My advice, get the Scott Kelby photography books. I know several people who have gotten his books, and still refer back to them now and again. I'm one of those people who can't be bothered to read a book or manual, so I just play with settings until I get the effect I want.
Amanda´s last post…Wordless Wednesday – Summer Projects
Greg,
I'd recommend watching D-Town, it is a Nikon based podcast and I won't hold it against you that you got a Canon like some people would hold it against me using a Nikon (*COUGH* @MooshInIndy). I think that Matt summed it up great.
Smaller the F-Stop number the bigger the hole (aperture) the larger the F-Stop number the Smaller the hole.
Set your camera to F 4 and look into the lens do you notice that the petals inside the lens are wide open. Now set it to F22 and see how there is a pinhole in the petals.
Photography is painting with light. Understand light and you understand photography, Me I just push the button when I see a pretty picture.
Check out Strobist.com for more info on working with light and flash and stuff like that.
BenSpark´s last post…Win Silver Passes to Affiliate Summit East 2010
Your lens – 70-300 f/4 IS- $500
Your lens with a lower f/stop – 70-200 f/2.8 – $1200
(it also weighs as much as a newborn stuck to the front of your camera.)
f/stop is the secret language photographers use to make ourselves feel more important, smug and superior to others. Learn to speak the language? And you're in. Who cares about taking pictures!
I love photography, but I'm still learning and all of that confused me too! After Matts response I think I FINALLY get it! Yay! Can't wait to go out and try what I've learned. Oh and stop helicopter blades? I've always wondered how photographers snapped amazingingly focused pictures of moving objects!
Veronica´s last post…Small Goals Big Changes
I have no idea what You are talking about–LOL.
I have one of those first camera you have–the point and shoot.
Good luck trying to figure it all out..
I'll just remain clueless…
The camera takes pretty pictures though!
one cluttered brain´s last post…Two for one- Oh me- oh my-
Ok…easy explanation?
F4 means you can afford it.
F2 means you cant.
You're welcome.
~Trisha
trisha´s last post…Only in Alabama…Adult video store…
Rose (dozenroses13) asked me to stop by and add my two cents about f stops. You have to think of it in reverse. The smaller the F-stop, the larger the opening. So, wide open would be 2.8. Here's the text we share with our new photo group members…
((He provided GREAT information but it was longer than my post. So, I'm hoarding the info for myself and editing the comment down so he still gets props.))
Michael (@TCRPMG)´s last post…Let There Be Rain!
Thank you EVERYONE for your insight. I bought a 50mm F 1.8 lens because someone said I had to have a "prime" lens. I'm sure by the time I learn all this stuff I'll realize that I should have bought other lenses, but it's hard to shop intelligently when you have no idea what you're shopping for.
I like Matt's explanation to it….however you can always do what I do and just put your camera on auto and go with the flow until you can really get the hang of it LOL I've got a Nikon D50 and love it, but even after 3 years of owning it, I still don't know how to do much with it outside of the auto feature.
Shawn Ann @ Shawn An´s last post…Wordless Wednesday – Cats
I've recently been trying to learn more about the technical side of photography, too. We should get together sometime and take pics of stuff.
Jess´s last post…A Day in the Life
Okay….. Here I go…. Read this when you have some time to think:
First, depth of field: DOF is how much of your subject is in sharp focus. Say you are taking a close up picture of your son's face, focusing on the tip of his nose. Using shallow depth of field would make ONLY the tip of his nose in focus. Using greater depth of field will increase the parts of his face that are in focus. A medium depth of field would give you his nose, lips and eyes in focus, but not his ears, a higher depth of field would give you his whole head in focus and the highest depth of field would give you his whole head and the wall or trees behind him in focus.
This is an example of "shallow" depth of field: http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliagrace/420725602…
You can see that only a few flowers are in focus. The flowers only an inch or two behind them are blurry.
Here's another: http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliagrace/226521133…
Only the back edge of the butterfly's wings are in focus and the legs are blurry
This is an example of "medium" depth of field:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliagrace/215540004…
The girl is in focus, but the background is blurry.
Here's another:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliagrace/215604620…
The girl and the sand in the front of the picture are in focus, but the ocean in the back is blurry.
Here is an example of a "higher" depth of field:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliagrace/106485501…
The plane is in focus and so is the tree behind it.
Here's another: http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliagrace/308871364…
The whole subject, from the nose to the tail to the bowl of sprouts is in focus and very sharp.
The terms "shallow", "medium", and "high" are relative to your subject and your focal point.
Now, we're going to get a bit more complicated. Your Focal point is the point on your subject you are focusing on, the point you want sharp. Depth of field revolves around your focal point, not just what is closest to the camera. For example, if you were to take a close up picture of someone wearing glasses, and focus on their eyes, a really shallow depth of field will only give you their eyes in focus, the rims of their glasses will be blurry, even though the glasses are closer to the camera. As you increase the depth of field, more will come into focus, both towards the camera and away from the camera, for example the persons nose will come into focus and their ears will come into focus.
This is called the plane of focus, think of a pane of glass about 1/2" thick. A shallow DOF will give you the equivalent of 1 pane of glass in focus, i.e. the persons eyes. As you increase your DOF you are adding panes of glass that are in focus to the stack. Think of stacking up three 1/2" pane of glass, they are now 1.5" thick all together, i.e. the persons eyes nose and ears are in focus.
Here is an example of this concept: http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliagrace/308871319…
As you can see, the violets that are closest to the camera (the foreground) are blurry, then the mouse (the subject) is in focus, and then the violets behind her (the background) are out of focus.
Here is another: http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliagrace/215538500…
The foreground is blurry, the subject is in focus, and the background is blurry.
The "thickness" of a plane of focus depends on how close you are to your subject. For example: if you are 10ft from a cat sitting on a road and photograph it using a very shallow DOF, a single plane may be as "thick" as the cat, giving you the whole cat in focus even though you used a shallow DOF. If you are 3 inches away from the cats face, that same shallow DOF may only give you the tip of its nose in focus and leave the eyes and the rest of its body blurry.
Here is an example:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliagrace/106482122…
Because it was taken from very high up, the plane of focus is as "thick" as the houses and trees are tall and I can use a lower aperture.
Here's another: http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliagrace/63355250/…
Even though the koosh balls are much closer together than tips of the trees and the ground are in the previous picture, the plane of focus is "thinner" and the koosh balls in the background are blurry because I was much closer to them than I was to the houses and trees.
Break time… I'll wait until your back…
Back? Got a drink? Good.
So how do you control depth of field? Aperture!
F-Stop, also known as Aperture is essentially the pupil of your camera. Inside the lens there are usually leaves of plastic that expand and contract like the pupil in your eyeball depending on your setting.
The lower the number (say F1.8 for example) the bigger the opening (think of your pupil in the dark, it's very large). This gives you a shallower depth of field. The higher your number (say F22) the smaller the opening (think of someone shining a flashlight in your eye, your pupil gets very small) the greater your depth of field.
Now, Aperture also affects the amount of light that enters your camera. The lower the number and the bigger the opening the more light can enter your camera. The higher the number and the smaller the opening the less light can enter your camera. This will affect your exposure.
Now a tiny bit about shutter speed. Shutter speed is how quickly the camera exposes your frame/picture by opening and closing the shutter. This also helps control how much light your picture is exposed to. The quicker your shutter speed the less light your picture is exposed to. Shutter speed also helps control blur and motion. For example, a race car goes by really fast and at slow shutter speed it will only be a blur because it moves faster than your shutter exposes. If you want to see the car clearly and sharply you will need an extremely fast shutter speed. In the same way, if you are hand holding your camera, a long shutter speed will give you a blurry picture because your hands shake.
Now a bit about ISO. ISO is how sensitive your "film" is to light (in the digital age, it means the picture or pictures you take with a particular ISO setting). The higher your ISO number (say ISO 3200) the more sensitive to light your "film" is. The more sensitive your film the less light it takes to get a properly exposed picture. For example: if you are taking pictures in full sunlight on a beach you would want to use a very low ISO (say ISO 100), but if you were photographing you baby sleeping by a window in the late afternoon you would want a higher ISO (say ISO 800). Unfortunately high ISO also cause graininess in your picture. The higher the ISO the more grain. For this reason, you generally want to use the lowest ISO possible. The ISOs that cause grain and the quality or amount of grain is dependent on the camera. In General (as in blanket statement general), the better quality and newer your camera the higher you can set the ISO without getting terrible grain. They are making a lot of progress on this front now a days, making some cameras that can shoot well at ISO 3200 and 6400 and give you a decent picture that isn't destroyed by grain.
So how do you get the exposure, DOF, or the shutter speed you want without under-exposing (too dark), over exposing (too bright), or getting much too much grain in your picture? How do you capture that fast moving subject or keep your hand held picture from being blurry? This is where the balancing act between light, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and equipment comes in.
A shallow depth of field (wide open) will let more light into your camera, so this will let you use a higher shutter speed and/or lower ISO.
If you want a greater depth of field you reduce the amount of light going into your camera, so you will have to increase the light (flashes, studio lights), increase the ISO, or decrease the shutter speed.
If you need a certain aperture and shutter speed because of the available light, but your hands shaking makes the picture blurry… get a tripod! (or a better camera that can shoot at higher ISOs! =P)
It is all a balancing act and in that balancing act is where a big part of the art of photography comes in.
That's a bit simplified and there are plenty other things that come into play, but hopefully that was not overly confusing and will help you out. If not, or even if you just want more there's a ton of info out there. Here's a good looking blog article with examples and charts as well: http://mynewn95.blogspot.com/2010/05/aperture-shu…
Feel free to get in contact with me if you have any questions or anything. I'll do my best to help. Good luck with your camera and your passion!
- Julia Grace
Whoever told you to buy the 50 mm lens was giving you good advice. You'll start to understand "f-stop" or aperture when you put the camera into aperture priority mode and shoot at f1.8.
TJ McDowell´s last post…Wedding Photography Tips To Get Amazing Images
I have the the photo bug. Ever since high school. We had a dark room and everything. We would turn up the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge and…dark room away. I wish I had an F-Stop camera. They are much harder to find now. That bird picture is AMAZING. Did you dad take that?
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