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Regardless of whether you have a new fully digital SLR Camera, or an older traditional manual Camera, there are always 2 aspects of photography that stay constant; Aperture and Shutter Speed.
Many young photographers just getting started are shocked to think there was a time when every photo had to be manually setup, with light, location and after affect taken into account.
Today, I want to talk a little about Aperture.
Aperture refers to the amount of light that the lens lets into the Camera. Aperture works much like the human eye in many ways. In bright light, the human eye will reduce the size of the pupil, therefore letting less light into the eyes. In the dark, the pupil increases in size, allowing more light in.
Aperture is measured in f-stops, and range from 2.8 (low) up to 16 or 22 (depending on your camera / lens). For each f-stop step, the amount of light in is doubled, so f2.8 for example will let in twice as much light as f4.
The best way to learn how Aperture works is to try different settings and see how your photos turn out. This method isn’t really feasable if you have an older film camera, but if you do have a digital camera, don’t be afraid to go a bit crazy and try new things. As you will soon learn, having the correct Aperture setting is vital to getting great photos.
Here is a great 2 minute video from youtube that explains Aperture.
It is important to remember though that Aperture is only half the equation, as you also need to take into account Shutter Speed (tomorrows article).
I’m not sure about other parts of the world, but down here in Australia, and also back home in New Zealand, we have an annual event called the “boxing day sales”. I refer to it as an event because it’s the one day of the year that you’re either brave enough to go shopping, or smart enough to stay at home. The fact is, boxing day, the day after Christmas is when all the stores reduce their excess stock down to really cheap prices. There is also always a mad rush, and unless you really like being crowded by people, it’s a day where shopping isn’t always enjoyable. The sales often continue for a week or so following Christmas.
These sales days are historically a very good day for the sale of electronic goods, and always a hot purchase item are cameras and camera equipment. Search engine trends tend to increase this time of year as people do their research as to what camera to buy, and which to avoid.
According to Imaging-Resource, the Canon EOS 400D Rebel XTi is the top selling Digital Camera on the market right now. This 10.1 megapixel camera tops the list and retails between $500 and $700 depending where you shop.
Shawn Barnett or Imagine-Resource reviewed the XTi and in summary, had this to say:
“Ultimately, the Canon Rebel XTi is an improvement of an already superb camera — the Rebel XT — with Canon’s latest and greatest innovations to make digital SLR photography more like you remember from the film days and more versatile to boot. For my money, the greatest improvement to the XTi is the addition of the 30D’s autofocus array. More pixels, a bigger LCD, and dust reduction are welcome, but faster AF is the true benefit to the Rebel XTi, because you can get shots that you couldn’t with the XT. Now I can say that Canon’s flagship consumer camera has it where it counts: fast, accurate autofocus and the best imager you can get for the money. All the rest is gravy.” - Article
Rounding out the top 10 selling Digital Cameras are:
Canon EOS 400D Rebel XTi
Canon PowerShot A720 IS
Canon PowerShot A570 IS
Canon PowerShot SD1000 Digital ELPH
Nikon D40
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18
Canon PowerShot A560
Nikon D40X
Canon PowerShot S5 IS
Canon EOS 40D
Canon are dominating the market this year. With the Festive Season over, and the Post-Christmas sales in full swing, I imagine there are more than a few of these flying of the shelves.
Hi, Sam Hansen here. Growing up, I was always around photography in one way or another. My father was “trigger happy” as he used to say, and just by being around him, i grew to appreciate the skill that goes into taking good pictures.
My personal favorite Camera is an old Russian Zenit-E SLR, which I believe dates from the 1970’s. It was my fathers, and has taken some amazing photos over the years.
My appreciation turned to a deep interest a few years ago when my wife and I traveled to the U.S. While there i started to delve into Sports Photography. Unfortunately for me, my camera at the time was a Canon Powershot S2 IS which had limits as to what it could do.
Creative Photography is for people like myself who love shooting photos and escaping into their cameras.
Aperture is measured in f-stops, and range from 2.8 (low) up to 16 or 22 (depending on your camera / lens). For each f-stop step, the amount of light in is doubled, so f2.8 for example will let in twice as much light as f4.
Tags: aperture, aperture and shutter speed, aperture setting, camera, camera aperture, camera lens, digital camera, digital slr camera, f-stop, film camera, fstop, image, lens, manual camera, photo, photography, pupil, range, Shutter, shutter remote, shutter speed, SLR, youtube
According to 
Hi, Sam Hansen here. Growing up, I was always around photography in one way or another. My father was “trigger happy” as he used to say, and just by being around him, i grew to appreciate the skill that goes into taking good pictures.
