Your Photos Could Be SOOO Much Better! Stop Shooting f/1.2, f1.4, f1.8 and Wide Open Apertures!

In this video, I wanted to talk about shooting wide open with large aperture prime lenses. Do you always shoot f/1.2, f1.4, f1.8 or the lowest aperture number available on your lens?Well, I think you might be doing it wrong! So, strap in and let me tell you why!

TikTok: @onewhodrinkscoffee

00:00 Intro
00:52 Why You *Think* You Like the Wide Aperture Look
05:23 What You Miss from Only Shooting Wide Open
09:59 What You Have to Lose

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[alfredorodriguezphoto]

This needed to be said. There's an ungodly amount of people that shoot everything at f1.8 and a shutter speed of 1/2500th of a sec. 🤦🏽

[CRobbins]

Let me put it this way, I have a corvette but I don’t drive 100 mph all the time not even most of the time but it’s nice to have the power when you need it

[CryptoJones]

I didn't realize shooting wide open lost sharpness. Looking at lightroom at my images with smaller apertures I can see the difference in sharpness!!!!

[Foto_School]

You should improve the lighting on the shadow side of your face, maybe half a stop brighter.

[old_hater]

This topic looks like a clickbait:) In fact, there was such a video already by Matt Granger. As for me, it's as simple as this: choose your aperture according to subject. Nobody shoots good macro or landscape wide open. On the other hand nobody shoots outdoor portrait with a busy background at f8.

[bodinian]

Using wide open apertures strategically works for me. For photojournaling my life I use the RF 24-105mm f/4 and the RF 14-35mm f/4 lenses most of the time. When I want a fancy portrait I take it with the EF 70-200mm f/2.8 often with a wide open aperture because I use that lens for a particular look in portraits; but I use it differently if I'm taking pictures of other things like animals, objects, and landscapes. I take the 50mm f/1.8 when I'm outside at night and need to keep my camera setup small and good in low light without a flash since carrying a big rig around in the city at night attracts thieves.

[EDWARDTHEEAUTHOR]

I literally told myself today that i dont need my 85mm 1.2 because i will never shoot that and i prefer to have the entire face or subject in focus

[damasovi_travels]

I like to take 2 pictures, 1 wide open, and the other at F11-F22 (it varies because of the lense or the situation)

[CanditoTrainingHQ]

Those sample photos were great. I have a theory that compression, not F stop, will be the last standing shiny object. I think low F stops on a normal focal length will slowly fall out of favor in the next 5 years. Reason being that iphone portrait and now cinematic mode will continue to improve. Eventually it'll diminish the appeal of bokeh across the board, as it becomes less of a distinguishing factor between phone vs pro camera. But the one thing that will likely never change is that only a few people will be willing to stand far away from their subject, and it's much harder for an Iphone to emulate a 100-200mm portrait lens than it is to emulate a 35mm F1.2 lens.

If we lived in a world where phones could do everything, then I think people would finally just pick what they think looks best lol.

[robertmccutchan]

Thank you so much for posting this! I'm glad to see someone addressing this issue. I almost never shoot my prime lenses wide open....I hate to see one eye in focus while the the other eye and the nose are out of focus. My main lens is a 24-105 f4, and I get more usable pictures shooting at f4 than I do shooting primes at f1.8. I keep a 50mm and 85mm f1.8 with me for the occasional times when I DO want a shallow depth of field, but most of the time, I prefer to shoot with my lenses stopped down a bit. I really don't drop below f2.8, and most of the time I shoot at f4 - f5.6.

My photography career started MANY years ago (late 1990's) with film cameras and manual focus lenses, and it was dangerous to shoot a wedding with fast lenses wide open. Pre-focusing and setting the aperture to f5.6 or f8 was just the standard way to shoot, and I still use this technique today.

[TheMsavage]

Everything you said is why I believe I fell back in love with M/43. Since the crop factor also doubles F stop I'm getting a lot in focus from the jump. Also you are saying everything I thought. I try 2.8-5.6 unless shooting product shots. My fastest glass is Olympus 75 1.8 followed by 40-150 2.8 which is insanely sharp wide open but due to the double effect I'm essentially shooting 150m 3.6 with my Oly 75. If my look is for blurry backgrounds shooting telephoto/M 4/3 system easily gives me that. Great video and talking points

[paleyosezi]

If I hear bokah one more time I'm going vomit

[FloridaTwoWheelAdventures]

Some people would be unhappy with a 0.00 lens! 😳

[Hussein]

Everyone is entitled to his own style.

[joelb]

Yep I'm a newb And I was wondering why everything I shot was so soft And to your point I learn mostly from YouTube to shoot wide open now I mostly shoot at around f8 for now..

[Hubieee]

„If you‘re only shooting stopped down, you are not progressing, you‘re stuck. Open your aperture!“

[ultrasportozonaazul]

Come on man... I do the opposite. I ONLY shoot less wide if I need to. The shots with my 35/50/85 1.4 lenses, looks absolutly cinematic and wonderful wide Open. If I want to shoot in F4 the 24-105 is just fine. Come on...

[linusfotograf]

I don’t see why it should be either or. If I’m in-doors and I need a certain shutter speed I will shoot wide open rather than crank up the ISO too much. If I need the whole face in focus then yes I will raise ISO and go to 2.8 or 4.

I had to shoot a low light event with people moving around all over the place without flash and I had to go to ISO 12.800. I wish I’d had a f/1.2 that time.

[Svoboda]

Just as importantly as blurring out the background is the subject separation that can only be obtained with a wide open f stop and/or zoom. Higher f stops=flatter images. I have an A7RV, it’s new and expensive and it absolutely looks better when shot at f 1.2 in low light. Recommending that people with an f 1.2 lens shoot at high f stops in low light is the strangest advice. Y’all crank down your f stops and take iPhone looking photos and I’ll stay at 1.2

[chrispatmore]

Well said. There’s so much misinformation spread on YouTube by so-called photography “experts”, especially related to depth of field, and the obsession with bokeh. It doesn’t help that most people seem to think that bokeh is a synonym for shallow depth of field, when it is actually referring to quality of the blurriness.