A few weeks ago I posted about which lens’s I use and what I liked about them. I referenced a few times to that what I liked in a lot of the lens’s is the ability to shoot wide open and consequently received a question not long after to ask what that term means.
The term wide open basically means using a wide aperture on your lens, which helps in creating those beautiful blurry backgrounds that we all love. For example, one of my favourite lens’s is the 50mm which goes to 1.4 at it’s widest aperture. The lower the number the wider the aperture. Unless it’s group shots, I generally shoot everything wide open from 2.8 max to 1.4 my lowest. Shooting wide will also allow more light into your camera so you may have to adjust other components to compensate and keep your exposure right.
Sometimes when you shoot very wide you have to be careful with your focusing. For example, if you shot a portrait at 1.4 and you where very close to your subject there is a chance that the eye could be in focus but the nose not, which can yield beautiful results when used with intent. To change what is in focus you could also pull back so that you were not as close to your subject.
I didn’t have a face to hand to use, so I thought my pretty Alpine would suffice….
The image on the left is shot at 1.4 & the image on the right is shot at 2.8 – see that lovely bokeh! (blurriness)
The image on the left is shot at 1.4 & the image on the right is shot at 2.8
The best way to find out what your camera does it to get out there and play with it. This weekend we are supposed to have more great weather so it’s the perfect opportunity.
I would be more than happy to help with any other questions people have. Just leave them in the comment box.
Happy Friday!!
