Maximum aperture question

[flito ray]

I was talking to my photography expert friend he said that when you're a beginner you should just leave the aperture on maximum

for examply on the 18-55 is a 3.5 to 5.6 aperture. So he said don't stop down just leave it on the max if you're trying to frame the shot?

I look on flickr and I see some good photos and most people just leave their lens on highest aperture is that the right thing to do??

[SENSEI]

I was talking to my photography expert friend he said that when you're a beginner you should just leave the aperture on maximum

for examply on the 18-55 is a 3.5 to 5.6 aperture. So he said don't stop down just leave it on the max if you're trying to frame the shot?

I look on flickr and I see some good photos and most people just leave their lens on highest aperture is that the right thing to do??

"photography expert friend" - everyone seems to have one these days...:cheesygri

Anyways, I would totally have to disagree. If a beginner wants to learn hot to control manual settings, the first thing I always teach is get out of AUTO and move in Aperture Priority.

Controlling aperture is key to creativeness and getting the most sharpness out of your lenses.

Sure, widest aperture gives you typically the shortest shutter speed to minimize hand shake, but there are times when you don't want this.

If you're shooting landscapes or group photos, NEVER EVER shoot wide open...you will want f/5.6 or f/8+. In the landscape example, I'd go to f/22 on a tripod just to get focus from foregroud right to background.

The only way you'll be able to learn to shoot manual is to play with your aperture and see how it affects shutter speed, DOF, and the need to up ISO as needed to get the creativeness you need.

If you're picking up a DSLR for the very first time ever, fine, maybe stick to lowest aperture, but I think everyone should be learning how aperture affects your shots even before playing with ISO, using flash, or thinking about upgrading lenses...

[flito ray]

my photography expert friend shoots with a full frame camera and has like 10 different lenses. trust me he's been shooting before dslrs are around.

[SENSEI]

my photography expert friend shoots with a full frame camera and has like 10 different lenses. trust me he's been shooting before dslrs are around.

I'm not saying he's not an expert...or not into photography...

But shooting FF and the number of lenses is definately NOT the marker for being an expert. :o

[ryan_lau100]

I'm not saying he's not an expert...or not into photography...

But shooting FF and the number of lenses is definately NOT the marker for being an expert. :o

mines bigger than yours :cheesygri

if you continue shooting like that and wonder why in group shots only one person is in focus you have your answer...

gotta get out of auto mode

[gotak]

Does he know you have a DSLR now or was he thinking you where shooting with a P&S? With the latter the advice works most of the time, it's what I told my sister when she borrowed my G10 for her Italy trip.

With a DSLR nope. Like others have said you'll just wonder why your photos are all blurry except for certain objects. Biggest reason to move away from the kit lens onto something bit more pricey isn't the image quality, nor how fast they are, but the ability to control depth of field at all zoom range.

Anyhow read up on depth of field and you'll see why this isn't good advice. That or he is one of those people who don't like to explain things and just wanted you out of his hair.

[skyblue12]

at f22, detail is lost in my experience

[flito ray]

at f22, detail is lost in my experience
f22 requires a long shutter so you better hope your hand is steady

[ricsad]

Your friend is just helping you get sharper pictures. A lot of beginners wonder why their photos are always blurry in dim light. By shooting at the largest aperture, you get the fastest shutter speed to reduce blurs and the most depth of field to get a blurry background. A lot of people would call you a noob for this, but many of those so called "pro" photographers do exactly the same thing. They set it to AV mode and use the largest aperture.

[Winkle]

Another thing to point out, most lenses tend to have some vignetting on max aperture so if you don't want any vignetting you'll have to stop down to f/8 typically to get rid of it unless you're pairing up a 35 mm lens with a cropped body.

I think your friend believes that shooting at max aperture has the most benefits for someone new to SLR photography because 1) it removes an additional variable that they have to worry about but typically don't fully understand what it will do, 2) it allows you to use a higher shutter speed and reduce out-of-focus shaking and 3) it will allow more light into the camera so it can meter better and auto-focus faster. In that sense they are correct.

I don't think there's any one right way for someone new to SLRs to ease into it. Everyone's a little different.

Also, gear doesn't mean much, its nice your friend shoots full frame and has ten lenses... it just proves they're a gearhead.

[Astin]

Funny. I often point people to shutter priority as their first off-auto mode. I find it a bit more informative than Av as they can quickly see the limitations of their camera/lens and easily tie it to what they're doing.

ie.- If you set the speed to 1/100 of second, you can hear how fast the shutter goes, and see how dark your picture is (depending on the environment of course). Then if you switch to 1 second, you can see that it actually takes 1 second to take the picture and how much light comes in.

When you're playing with aperture mode, it's harder to associate the sound and physical reaction of the camera with the setting you've made. Especially since I find people have the hardest time wrapping their head around the aperture/f-stop relationship at first. "Wait, so as the number gets smaller, the aperture gets bigger?"

Plus, I find it more useful indoors and in low-light than Av, as there's more granularity in the settings. If I set my 50mm to f/1.4, then it will adjust the shutter speed to the fastest the camera determines is good. Which is often a lot slower than required for an accurate rendering of the scene. But if I set shutter speed to, say 1/15 instead of the camera-dictated 0.3", the aperture remains at 1.4 (since it can't go wider), and the scene can be more true-to-life. Granted, something like 1.4 obviously has a very narrow DoF.

[slomo]

I often think that why aperture priority (A) mode is more often used is because the popular 'workflow' in taking a static (non action) picture that most people learn early is something like this:

1. Frame the picture either with changing the focal length with zoom lens or move closer/farther away.
2. Determine the size of DOF that you want.
3. Set the aperture to the DOF that you want.
4. Check the shutter speed at that aperture.
5. If shutter speed is below the inverse of the focal length, increase the ISO, if it is above the specs of the body, then decrease the ISO or use ND filter.

I think very few start learning to take picture are learning it by taking picture of action shots where the aim is to freeze the movement, hence not many start learning with shutter priority mode.

[googoo]

But shooting FF and the number of lenses is definately NOT the marker for being an expert.

Darn:)

Brent

[thelefteyeguy]

Darn:)

Brent

try a photog blog...apparently...that makes you a pro also ;)

[gotak]

Another thing to point out, most lenses tend to have some vignetting on max aperture so if you don't want any vignetting you'll have to stop down to f/8 typically to get rid of it unless you're pairing up a 35 mm lens with a cropped body.

I think your friend believes that shooting at max aperture has the most benefits for someone new to SLR photography because 1) it removes an additional variable that they have to worry about but typically don't fully understand what it will do, 2) it allows you to use a higher shutter speed and reduce out-of-focus shaking and 3) it will allow more light into the camera so it can meter better and auto-focus faster. In that sense they are correct.

I don't think there's any one right way for someone new to SLRs to ease into it. Everyone's a little different.

Also, gear doesn't mean much, its nice your friend shoots full frame and has ten lenses... it just proves they're a gearhead.

Your aperture settings don't affect the camera's metering or auto-focus. The camera's at max aperture until you actually trigger the shutter. Then it stops down and takes the photo. That's why on some cameras you have the DOF button which stops the lens down to your settings so you can "preview" the effects of your aperture setting.