Understanding Aperture
Via: disneyphotographyblog.com -
:
Hey all! For today’s post, we are going to take a very basic look at what types of results you can get using different apertures, and why knowing what your end result will look like will help you figure out what is best for different scenarios. I am nowhere near knowledgeable enough to give you all the scientific terms about what happens at different apertures and different focal lengths to create these different looks, but I do know what they look like and represent in real life out in the field. So, I am going to show you 5 different photos of the Chip and Dale statuette in the Hub at Magic Kingdom, all taken with the 5D Mark III and the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 lens, which is a favorite of mine.
The first one is at f/8:
Here you can see that both Chip and Dale are in sharp focus while the rest of the image is slightly diffused.
The next one is at f/4:
Notice how you start to see more separation from the statuette to the stroller and railing in the background.
Next up is f/2.8:
Even more separation. It is almost getting to the point where you cannot tell that it is a stroller in the background.
Moving on to f/2:
Here you can see the background fading away to nothing. But, also notice how only one of the chipmunks is in sharp focus now.
Lastly, let’s look at f/1.4:
Now we’re seeing the right chipmunk crisp and sharp, but the left one almost comes across as out of focus, as if the camera focused incorrectly. Also notice though how the stroller is no longer a distraction in the frame whatsoever. There is also a rather heavy vignette, which was not applied by myself in post processing. This is just natural of the lens, especially present on a full frame camera.
So, which one was the right one in this case? For me, it is between the f/4 and the f/2.8 image. With those, you are getting enough separation from the background, creating a nice portrait, but you also don’t get the distraction of having only Chip or Dale in focus. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE the look of the background in the f/1.4 image, but having one half of the statuette out of focus makes it basically not useable. If this were perhaps the statuette of Goofy or Minnie, it would be a different story and I’d be opening that lens up to f/1.4 for sure.
Hopefully this gave you guys a nice understanding (or refresher if you already knew) of how knowing what different apertures look like can help you in the creation of a photo. Once again, these were all shot with the
and the
, both of which are available at
. Thanks for reading!!
Wildest Ride In the Wilderness
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. One of my favorite rides growing up and as old as it is (opening in 1979) it still hasn't lost it's magic. Here we are standing on one of the bridges crossing into Frontierland in Disneyland, waiting for one of the trains to race by. This fast action HDR was taken with 3 exposures and ghosting was eliminated within Photomatix.
J.J. Abrams to Direct Star Wars VII?
Rumors are circulating the net that J.J. Abrams or
Star Trek
fame will be directing the new
Star Wars VII
film. Although several news sources have reposted the same story that originated from
, Lucasfilm or
com have neither confirmed or deny whether it's true or not. So until then it will remain a rumor.
News about the franchise has been coming out of quite often since the acquisition of Lucasfilm from Disney was finalized last month. Whatever the case both Disney and Lucasfilm have quite a lot to do still to keep true to the 2015 release date.
What do you think of the possibility of J.J. Abrams directing both the
Star Trek
and
Star Wars
franchises. Can both sci-fi dramas coexist in one man's head?
UPDATE:
the news. J.J. Abrams is the director!