a is for aperture

“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”  – Ansel Adams

I spent this past Saturday morning in a digital photography workshop lead by shutter brothers Jack, a serious amateur photographer, and Al, a professional sports photographer. Opportunities to connect and learn like this with fellow photographers are rare in my small Southern town, so when I heard that the photographers were coming, I noted the event on my calendar with a big, fat Sharpie.

My approach to photography has been primarily artistic vs. a traditional technical approach, though I consumed a photography class in college with a heavy appetite. And while I did learn the technicalities of F-stops and aperture, and the speeds of shutters way back then, I often leaned on an artistic eye in the dark room to turn an okay image into something special. I rarely remembered the formula for chemical soaks, nor did I take the time to document my pinhole camera exposures to simplify the subsequent shot. Numbers and calculations simply didn’t mix with the art of aesthetics for me. I just sort of “felt” that an image was done when it was done.

Even today with my digital SLR, I lean on my auto settings to quickly capture my compositions because I can’t force myself to reference the manual or fiddle with buttons in the presence of a fleeting moment. As a means of controlling light, I keep my flash turned off at all times and follow the rhythm of natural light, shooting in the morning or early evening, feeling confident that if the lighting or contrast isn’t quite right, I can tweak it on my MacBook. But to really mature into a serious photographer, I’ve come to realize that there’s a delicate balance between firing the right and left sides of the brain…like ah, simultaneously. A balance I intend to cultivate.

So when shutter brother Al suggested that I shoot in Aperture Priority setting – giving me control of the size of the aperture (the hole in the camera regulating the amount of light that comes into the camera) and keeping the camera in control of the shutter speed – I made him turn the dial to the “A”.  Large apertures (low f/-numbers) reduce the depth of field, blurring objects behind and in front of the main subject. Small apertures (high f/-numbers) increase depth of field, bringing out details in the background and foreground. Al then pressed on the +/- button to show me how easy it was to increase and decrease the exposure setting simply by turning a control dial in this A-priority mode. The higher the number > the more light let in.  The lower the number  > the less light let in.  Well, now.  That wasn’t so hard.  So I proceeded to play in A-priority mode for the remainder of the weekend increasing and decreasing my depth of field and exposure settings, and comparing the images quickly to see the difference. Suffice it to say, I now can’t imagine shooting any other way.

What about you? Do you shoot with auto or manual settings?  Share your best-lit images in the comments and your tips/tricks for controlling light.

Comments

[cloudscome]

This is a great post. Thank you to all for your advice and examples. Here's my post: http://sandycovetrail.blogspot.com/2008/05/learning-about-aperture.html

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