Understanding Aperture & Depth of Field

And their Practical Application in Photography

Small Aperture = Wide Depth of Field

Wide Aperture = Narrow Depth of Field

Aperture and Photography

Aperture is the size of the opening of a cameras lens. The aperture stop of a photographic lens can be adjusted to control the amount of light reaching the film or image sensor. The size of the aperture is measured in f-stops. In combination with variation of shutter speed, the aperture size will regulate the film's degree of exposure to light.

Depth of Field

Aperture also has a big effect on "Depth of Field", or how much of the image is in focus. When ALL of an image is in focus it has a wide depth of field. If some parts of an image are out of focus is said to have a narrow depth of field.

small aperture = large f value = everything in focus = large depth of field

large aperture = small f value = limited focus = shallow depth of field

We can "borrow" the concept of depth of field from photography. Even if a photo was shot with a wide depth of field, we can simulate a narrow DOF effect with Photoshop CS's Lens Blur filter.

Photo "as shot," wide depth of field

"Photoshopped" narrow depth of field

Creating Depth of Field with Photoshop

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