Comments on: Understanding Aperture – A Beginner’s Guide

By: Anatoly

Anatoly — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:13:14 +0000

Hi Nasim,

Thank you very much for sharing your extensive knowledge with the rest of us.

I was just wondering if you could recommend a good inexpensive lens for indoor portraits. I’m trying to capture my 4.5 yo daughter with 18-55 kit lens on D5100 Nikon and results are passable but not very impressive. Also could you maybe post a listing of default settings that you would use on DSLR such as max ISO, WB offset, max/min f stop etc. that you would use for 90% of the time, meaning daily photography of kids family parties for both indoors and outdoors environments. Scene modes are great but one of the reasons I have SLR is to have more control of my settings vs letting computer make all the decisions.
Thanks again for a great site.

By: pragadeesh

pragadeesh — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:21:37 +0000

hello sir ,
I’m so much interested in photography that I would like to know about aperture settings for zoom lens.
There is also a setting like ‘point focus’, can it be possible to point focus on a subject by having more aperture? or achieve depth of field?
Can the aperture be changed for a zoom lens the is set up to the maximum focal length?As you said that “……while when fully zoomed in at 200mm, the lens has an aperture of f/5.6″
Just a question out of curiosity-Would this type of setting be helpful in focusing on the background rather than foreground ?
And What does ‘G’ refer to in ‘f/1.4G’ ?
I’m naive in photography and someone who hasn’t started eperimenting with the SLR(not owning one)…
Thanks !

By: Tammy

Tammy — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:29:02 +0000

Ok I have a Nikon d5000. Just got a new lens 18-105. Tried to take action shots in action mode…they were blurry. I have a 55-200 and take action shots with it in same mode and they come out great. Why???

By: Rose

Rose — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:29:14 +0000

This information is amazing. I have ordered a canon 1100D with the standard 18-55mm lense and have been reading up info on getting started in photography and have learnt more from your page than all the others put together. Thank you SO much!

By: kulpuia

kulpuia — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:12:52 +0000

very informative :P

By: Jose Santiago

Jose Santiago — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:43:47 +0000

Nasim, thanks for taking the time to write all the newbie tips for taking pictures. I have one question please. I have a Canon SX40 HS and i would like to take a great picture of my sons graduation. When he is on stage and i am about 20 30 yards away, what is the best setting so my picture does not become dark? I bought this camera as it has 35x zoom.

Any of your great input would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Jose Santiago

By: Andrea M

Andrea M — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:26:22 +0000

Hi Nasim,
I am really hoping you still check this! I am really trying to understand aperture, but the one thing that keeps getting me is HOW a larger opening/aperture means LESS stuff, forward and back, that is in focus… and a smaller opening/aperture makes more things forward and back in focus… it just does NOT make sense to me.
I would think a larger opening would give a lot more, in foreground and background, in focus. Why does it not?

Also, I have the Nikon D5000 with the Kit lens (AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6G)
Based on the last paragraph of this article I am a little confused – can I still take pictures that have a lower aperture?? Nevermind on this. I just played with my camera and realized that NO, I can only go as low as 3.5 or 5.6 depending on whether I am zoomed out or in respectively. Very interesting!

I am asking all this b/c I am doing photography of infants and children and would like to not only be able to achieve a shallow depth of field, but also to UNDERSTAND it.

Will an aperture setting of f/3.5 or f/5.6 still give me a shallow depth of field when doing children and infant photography? If not, what type of lens would you recommend??

Thank you!!
Andrea M

By: Mamta

Mamta — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:58:10 +0000

Hi Naseem,

I am very new to DSLR world and have a basic DSLR for now (18-55mm/f3.5-5.6). I want to buy 50mm/f1.8. Also, at the same time I want a zoom lens as well (18-200mm). Let me know if I can use both the lenses together? Also, is there another lens that I should go for instead of buying two seperate lenses (one for wide angle and another for zooming).

Appreciate your help,
Mamta

By: JX

JX — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 03:39:52 +0000

Hello Nasim,

I recently stumbled upon your website and have enjoyed reading your articles thus far. I am new to photography and recently got my D90 + 18-55mm. I have read the manual and your Beginner’s Guides to ISO, Aperture…however, I am still at a loss as to where to start! Coming from a point-and-shoot, it suddenly seems like I have many variables to play with and although I can understand how each of those settings affect the photograph (from your guides), I have no idea how they should come together to make a great picture. I’d like your advice on how I should actually go about getting started with my camera [apart from shooting in Auto mode ;) ]. I have tried messing within each of the modes but all my pictures turned out worse than what I got with Auto mode; I must be doing something wrong somewhere and I hope you can lead me in the right direction.

By: Maureen

Maureen — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 04:39:25 +0000

I am preparing to shoot my first “assignment” for the coming Easter Day at my Church.
Activities under adequate light is fine but I am not too sure how to manage the low light conditions during the start of the drama e.g. Stage light only condition.

I have Nikon D80′ lenses I will be using is 18-200mm and tokina 12-24mm.

Appreciate some helpful pointers from u and recommended settings for white balance, and ISO.
Many thanks