Explaining aperture

As I've been mentioning aperture, f-stops and shutter speeds in my past posts, I thought I'd dedicate one especially to it.

Above is a diagram of f-stops. Ultimately it shows that the higher the f-stop, the wider the aperture opens which therefore lets more light in. For example, if in low-light conditions, you'd use a higher f-stop so that more light is exposed to the camera. With this higher f-stop comes slower shutter speeds, as they work hand-in-hand. This means that when shooting in a low f-stop, the shutter speed will leave the aperture open for longer to let more light in. Generally this means that there is more likely to be blur in the photo, unless using a tripod or very still hand, as the shutter is open for longer.

The same goes for good light conditions. If in good light, a higher f-stop is needed to let less light in, which corresponds with a faster shutter speed. 

Aperture is also related directly to depth of field, which refers to how much of a photo is in focus. For example, a larger aperture means less will be in focus - ie, with a portrait of a person, their whole face may be in focus, but the background is out of focus. This also works the other way round, with a smaller aperture (so a higher f-stop number) the whole scene should be in focus, such as a landscape photo. So therefore, the smaller the f-stop, the smaller the depth of field, and the higher the f-stop, the larger the depth of field.