What Pros Know About APERTURE That Beginners Often Ignore

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Chapters
00:00 Intro & Common Misconceptions
00:56 Big Hole VS Small Hole! Aperture Basics
02:08 How To Stop Missing Focus! Depth of Field Explained
03:16 How Zoom Affects Blurry Backgrounds
04:03 How Distance Affects Blurry Backgrounds
04:46 Why Photographing Wide Open All the Time is BAD
05:33 The Best Aperture?
06:13 How to Support The Channel!

[careylymanjones]

One other thing that Jason didn't mention is that large apertures are good for blurring out foreground elements, like fences. If there's a fence between you and the subject, get as close as you can to the fence and open the aperture. You can often make the fence "disappear".

[radshoesbro]

As someone that shoots 99% extreme low light (concert photography), I have a tendency to completely forget that aperture exists outside of wide open. It's definitely something I need to improve in my photography.

[juanvelasquez]

Man, I am starting this new hobby and this video has helped me a lot. I'll rewatch it everytime I need to refresh. Thanks a lot 😊

[ascabknight]

Man this is the best video about aperture I have found. I was really concerned about my pictures out of focus. I will apply your tips, thanks Jason!

[thunderstruck]

The most important thing to emphasize is practicing with your camera and lenses is important. I learn new things every wedding I work. I actually realized I could drop the f stop and still get blurry backgrounds one day when I forgot my VND i usually use on my 50mm 1.4 and had to shoot outside. I had to go to 5.6 to get usable exposure for my video, but the closer i got for intimate shots I realized the background was still a bit bokeh (granted, not as much as I would have preferred but still good). Plus lots of lenses are sharper stopped down than wide open.

[markgoostree]

My dad did a good job of explaining this to me in1960. I had to learn "sunny 16" back then because I shot with a manual camera, no light meter, and by the seat of my pants. Man those days were fun! Yes, I have several new cameras, but I also shoot an Argus C-3 .... a true manual, manual camera. You did a great tutorial video here... great info for those of us with 60 years of photography behind us. I say that because I'll never say I've learned it all!

[Akiidan]

Ive lately been a big fan of higher f-stop numbers like f8 or f11.
1. I shoot a lot of weddings and I feel like clients choose their venue because they like how it looks a lot so I want to show how the environment and location looks in the photo clearly along with the people in it.
2. Higher F stops allows me to use Photoshop to easily to remove unwanted artifacts in the background.
3. Bokeh has become so popular that every beginner of Photographer uses it now that it’s not a unique look anymore.

[toastwiz]

Great video! I really liked the demonstration on the iPad with the focus leeway.

Low f-stop is such a beginner trap - I say this as someone who just picked up photography earlier this year and has had this revelation myself in the last month or so. I think every beginner photographer naturally wants to play with bokeh, because in their eyes it's what makes their photos stand out against a photo taken say on a phone (although many phones can fake bokeh these days). As you mature as a photographer, you start to realise:

a) bokeh can be achieved in several ways without a super low f-stop, and
b) you don't always need bokeh. if you're relying on bokeh for good photos, you need to learn more about what makes a good photo i.e interesting compositions, subjects and lighting.

[AdventureGearTV]

I learned more about this topic than ever. I’ve been obsessed with these low numbers, but now realize it doesn’t matter for the content I make.

[JoshuaPeterson_yt]

Always nice to get a primer in the basics. Nothing wrong with some review.

[zakahossain]

Hello, I'd like to point out that it's not 'larger the number smaller the hole and vice versa.' Even my teacher at uni gets this wrong. It's not f 16 or f 1.4; it is f/16 or f/1.4 -- meaning f 1/16 or f 1/1.4. Now we know with the numerator same, if the denominator is bigger the number is smaller. Like ½ is 0.5 and ¼ is 0.25. So 1/1.4 > 1/16 and technically 'bigger the number bigger the hole.'

[jpbabista]

This is the tutorial that I'm looking for so longggg time. Others are just explaining the meaning of Aperture but thank you for creating this in depth teachings

[Jay-Go]

This really helped me understand that distance from the object really matters. As a noob, I've been looking at it as "getting the person or the object in focus is the only thing I can control." But now i see that distance plays a big role in hiw the background looks.
Thanks.

[Shenanigans]

Binge watching your videos cause they are the best I’ve found. Thank you, Jason. Much appreciated 😊

[storybabble]

It was nice to hear someone say what it took me a few years to learn myself. You are a great teacher. Keep it up. Big fan.

[tylervelasquez]

I wish so badly I learned this 2 year ago. I was so surface level and didn't go to school for it. Its like learning the little caveats came up only when I challenged myself with different type of photography.

[BecomingLizzyBlue]

THANK YOU!!! You’re the first person I’ve seen talk about aperture outside of the basic wide for low light as well as how distance affects depth of field and the need for narrow apertures for nightscapes. You’ve saved every beginner who watches this the maddening frustration I went through when I first started simply because so many tutorials left out this vital info.

[michaelbell]

Great video! Two things that have ruined modern photography are pixel peepers and bokeh worshippers. Typically neither one of these groups has any skill either. They wouldn't know a quality photograph if it bit them, they are too busy zooming into 400% and sitting an inch from their huge monitor looking for imperfections. Its been fueled by YouTubers playing photographer who push the latest 1.2 lens and absurdly overpriced "flagship" FULL FRAME camera as the only thing you need to get great photos 🤣 Ive been a professional fashion/portrait shooter almost 20 years and have shot with tons of gear from all manufacturers. You can get awesome shallow DOF in a portrait with an Olympus 75 1.8 on a tiny little M43 sensor camera. Ive done it and had shots published in magazines. No one would ever go hey wait a minute, thats a M43 sensor camera! What makes a great photograph is lighting and composition, not how blurry the background is or how creamy the bokeh balls are 😂

[bernisart]

Thank you! I've been looking for a video like this for some time now and you finally delivered one covering the basic needs, helped out a lot!

[MarcEdwindelosReyes]

What's amazing is I have already been doing some of the stuff you have mentioned here just by taking photo after photo after photo. But still, thanks for breaking everything for us in this video. 😎 Everything we do (and learn) on the fly makes a lot more sense now. 😁