Andrew S. Gibson is the author of Mastering Photography: A Beginner’s Guide to Using Digital Cameras, on offer now at Snapndeals for a limited time.
You are probably already familiar with the effect of aperture on your images. If not, here’s a quick recap: for any given focal length and camera-to-subject distance, use a wider aperture to get less of the image in focus. There’s a fair amount of science behind that statement (some of it subjective, such as the definitions of depth-of-field and sharpness) but the end result is that you can use wide apertures to limit depth-of-field and add a real creative edge to your images. Note that you’ll get the best results with a prime lens as they have wider maximum apertures.
I’m writing about using wide apertures in this article because they are exciting. You can use them to do wonderful things with composition, focus and colour. Today I’m going to concentrate on the relationship between aperture and colour, something that I hadn’t really thought about before until someone pointed it out in a comment on a previous article. It made me realise that a wide aperture alone isn’t enough to make a good image. Light (as always in photography) is important, and (unless you’re working in black and white) so is colour.
Here’s an example. I used an 85mm lens and an aperture of f2.0 to create a portrait with very little depth-of-field. Now, look at the model. She has fair skin and dark hair. She’s wearing a black top over another green top. There is very little colour. I emphasised that by placing her against a grey coloured background. I darkened the background in Lightroom and reduced the saturation. The end result is a portrait with a lot of neutral light and dark tones and very little colour. The colour has become a subtle and understated part of the composition.
Here are two more portraits. They were taken during the same shoot, just with different backgrounds. In both cases I moved the model away from the background so that it would go out of focus. The idea here was to have fun and play around with the colours. Unlike the previous example the colours are strong, rather than subtle.
The background in both portraits was a painted door. Perhaps it’s also another example of seeing – where many photographers would see a door I saw colour, because I understood that I could throw the doors out-of-focus by choosing the right lens and aperture.
This portrait has a different approach. We took the photos in a children’s playground, and I noticed that the model’s jumper was nearly exactly a match with the colour of one of the plastic climbing frames. I was able to position her so that the colour of the background (out of focus again) matched her jumper.
The key in all these photos is first in observing the colours (seeing what is actually happening in the scene) and then finding interesting ways to work with the colour palettes presented by the combination of clothes worn by the models and the environment we were in. None of these were pre-conceived concepts. I was simply reacting to the circumstances given to me.
It’s also part of learning about how lenses and aperture work. Once you understand that you can make the background go out of focus by moving your model away from it and using a short telephoto lens with a wide aperture, you can start seeing what the camera sees, rather than what you see when you use your own eyes.
Mastering Photography
Would you like to learn more about aperture and the other important settings on your digital camera? My latest ebook, Mastering Photography: A Beginner’s Guide to Using Digital Cameras introduces you to digital photography and helps you get the most out of your camera. It covers concepts such as lighting and composition as well as the camera settings you need to master to take photos like the ones in this article. It’s available now at Snapndeals for a special price for a limited period.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Getting Creative with Aperture and Colour
Over time, you’ll discover that there are certain presets that you use quite often. Feel free to create a new folder in your presets catalog and the drag your favorites into that one. A few of my favorites are Day At The Zoo and Bright and Sunny from my “Family Lifestyle” set, B&W Film Grain and B&W High Contrast from my “Monochrome” set, Sweet Pea Vintage in my “Nostalgia Film” set and Rome in my “Travel” set.
Find a good spot by getting there early and checking out the parade route. This seems like a no-brainer, but the lighting can be tricky especially if you’re in a spot where the floats and people are half in the sun, and half in the shade. So select a spot where you can either get them all in the shade (and have a shady background too), or all in the sun. Don’t be afraid to move if you find the location you selected isn’t working, for whatever reason. Maybe the lighting is bad, or the background is too busy or too bright. Then see tip #2 below!
You may have heard that once you get a DSLR you need to learn to shoot in manual and only ever use that mode. That if you are using the Aperture or Shutter Priority you’re cheating and if you want to be more like a pro you have to shoot in Manual only, all the time. To that I say “horse pucky”! (if you’re old enough to remember M.A.S.H. you’ll get that reference).
On most SLRs, and some of the mirrorless or four thirds cameras, there is an option of selecting what point it uses to focus. Meaning, when you look through the camera and see some flashing dots or squares (or something similar to the image on the right), those are your focus zones or spots. Make sure it is NOT set for the camera selecting which of those spots are targeted for focusing. When the camera chooses where to focus it can often pick the wrong thing. If you have a subject that is behind something in the foreground the camera will usually pick the closest object, which is not your intention, and you’ll end up with the wrong thing in focus.
Most cameras have a few different types of focus modes. On Canon you’ll see them as Single (One Shot), AI (stands for Artificial Intelligence) Focus and AI Servo. On Nikon the modes are AF-S, AF-C and AF-A. Choose the one that bests fits for the subject you’re photographing.
There is much debate about this subject in terms of how slow is too slow for hand holding your camera. Some instructors will say 1/60th of a second, I tend to use another rule of thumb which is 1 over the focal length of your lens. So if you are shooting with a 200mm lens, then 1/200 is how fast you need to be shooting to get rid of blur caused by camera shake. The longer lens you select, the more amplified any movement will become. If you are shooting with a cropped sensor camera, remember that 200mm is now acting like a 350mm so that changes your minimum shutter speed to 1/400. If you use a lens that has image stabilization then you can often stretch it a little bit more, say one or two stops, depending on how steady your hands are. You also want to make sure you are holding your camera in the most stable position with your left hand UNDER the body and lens (sort of cupping it) and both elbows in tight to your body. Then, hold your breath and shoot!
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