Aperture and Shutter Speed

This weekend I rented a camera from the Communication Department at school. It was fun to mess around with the settings and learn more about how aperture and shutter speed effect the outcome. Although, I will have to admit, these concepts are something I will have to practice multiple times in order for my pictures to turn out the way I envision.

As a reference, and for learning purposes, I will include examples of wide/narrow aperture and fast/slow shutter speed. All pictures are not my own, however they are from unsplash.

WIDE APERTURE:

This picture is a great example of the use of a wide aperture setting. The  cat’s head, front arm, and the section of the couch that it is resting on are all in focus, while the rest of the image is blurred. This effect is created when the camera is set to having a wide aperture.

NARROW APERTURE:

This picture is a good example of the use of a narrow aperture setting. Everything in the image is in focus, and no part of the image is blurred. This effect is created when the camera is set to having a narrow aperture.

FAST SHUTTER SPEED:

This picture is a good example of a fast shutter speed. The water is in focus, where the detail of the water droplets is visible. This effect is created when the camera has a fast shutter speed setting.

SLOW SHUTTER SPEED:

This picture is a good example of a slow shutter speed. The light from the steel wool is creating a flared effect. This effect is caused when the camera has a slow shutter speed setting.

Overall, I learned a lot from this learning activity. I didn’t really have a definite idea of what the difference between wide and narrow aperture were, but I am glad I can now associate those terms to visual examples.

PONDER:

I am curious if there is a way to set up a bracketing type method to taking images in wide/normal/narrow apertures? If that is possible, I would like to learn that next!