aperture under ten words

mysteryscribe · Dec 20, 2006

opens and closes to constrict the flow of light

mysteryscribe · Dec 20, 2006

since this is sesame street for photographers you know it all has to come together soon... Is there a song writer in the house

fmw · Dec 20, 2006

Size of light hole.

mysteryscribe · Dec 20, 2006

faucet for light....

yes laying the groundwork...

kwjones · Dec 20, 2006

Determines depth of field

danalec99 · Dec 20, 2006

the hole

craig · Dec 21, 2006

Smaller the hole better the focus.

ZyxKor · Dec 23, 2006

craig said:
Smaller the hole better the focus.

I don't understand how that works. I understand that you let less light in but I can't seem to understand why you get better focus with it. I know it's true but I don't understand the science behind it.

mysteryscribe · Dec 23, 2006

its like a faucet open it wide and the water sprays out.... shoot it through a tight hole and it come out in a tight streem. Light is like that a million times over. It hits everywhere overlapping though a big hole but is more focused through the small hole so it makes very sharp lines. That's how it has always be explained to me.

THORHAMMER · Dec 26, 2006

everything in photography is give and take, light management, tradeoffs....

gain here and lose something there.

Learning how and when to pick your battles. sometimes you can easily win without trying... sometimes the odds are stacked against you..

mysteryscribe · Dec 26, 2006

Some battles are worth fighing even after you know they are lost. Ah but we slide into politics now lol.

Alex_B · Dec 26, 2006

ZyxKor said:
I don't understand how that works. I understand that you let less light in but I can't seem to understand why you get better focus with it. I know it's true but I don't understand the science behind it.

you increase your depth of field. that is all. if your subject of the image is not well focussed, deep depth of field can help to still make it look sharp ... but that does not bring it into better focus ... focus is still off, just you dont realise since it is sharp

as for th the easy explanation, the smaller your opening, the closer it gets to a pinhole. for a pinhole, lenses don't matter, it is always in focus for all subject distances. so the closer you get to that pinhole, the more depth of field you get.

if it gets very small though, diffraction becomes an issue, this plus the still finite size of the hole prevent the image to be ultra sharp in the end.