What the hecka is Apachua? (Aperture)

OK - so I typed it phonetically for the way I speak - being from north of Boston!  Anyway, Ed is the more technical side of our business and I tend to be the more creative side. (Doesn't that mean one of us is "left" brained and the other is "right" brained?)  With today's cameras you don't necessarily HAVE to know what Aperture is, but if you want to be more in control of the photographs you take and get more amazing results, you should as least TRY to understand what changing the Aperture on your lens can do for your photography.  I just want you to understand that the way I'll be explaining the camera's "Aperture" to you is a very simple scenario.  The best way for me to understand it (I figured this out many years ago, and I still refer to it today) is this - the smaller the number, the larger the lens will open, the less that is in focus, AND just the opposite - the larger the number, the smaller the lens will open, the more that is in focus!

Aperture is controlled on the lens on your camera.  Most lenses have openings that go from f4.5 to f22.  More technical (and MUCH more expensive) lenses, have openings of f2.8 to f22.  If you are shooting manually, you may want to take a photograph of a subject; let's say a person - and you want the to background to go out of focus as much as possible - then you'll want to shoot with your lens at the smallest opening possible - like f4.5 say.  In order for you to do this YOU WILL ALSO HAVE TO ADJUST YOUR SHUTTER SPEED to get the correct exposure on your image.  Since we all have digital cameras (we do don't we?) you can TEST AWAY!!!  Try shooting with your lens at f4.5 and the shutter speed at a 60th of a second, then increase the shutter speed by each increment until you get the results you like.  (You can also decrease the shutter speed increments - do whatever you need to get the results you are looking for.)  On a lot of digital cameras, you have a option of "Aperture Preferred" in your automatic settings.  You can use this setting to achieve the outcome you are looking for - and if it's not quite where you want to be, you now know how to make minor adjustments to get the perfect shot.  I found a web page that explains this in a much more technical way - so if I've totally mushed up your brain you might want to check it out - (no relation to us - just a very good "technical" explanation!)

Good Luck - Sue

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/fototech/apershutter/aperture.htm