STOP These APERTURE MISTAKES! (ƒ/11-ƒ/16)

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In this week’s episode, we discuss aperture mistakes you should stop making in landscape photography! Perhaps the single largest source of confusion when it comes to determining the best camera settings for a particular composition has to do with Aperture. Should you use a large aperture with a small f stop number to throw the background out of focus or should you use a small aperture with a large f stop number to create those razor sharp and in focus images? And that doesn't even account for the fact that each aperture you select will also impact the overall exposure of your image..it's enough to really scramble your brain!

In this video, I'll share with you the 5 beginner aperture mistakes I used to make all the time when I was getting started with landscape photography. Now these 5 mistakes are not ranked in order of severity, but they are ranked in the order that they impacted my development when I was navigating how to choose the best camera settings for a particular scene. I can't begin to tell you how many photos I ruined by simply not fully understanding how the aperture I dial in can impact the overall outcome of my photo. I hope the aperture mistakes that I made will help you to avoid them the next time you're on-location trying to determine the best camera settings to use for your particular situation. Thanks so much for watching! - Mark D.

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#landscapephotography​​ #aperture

**LETS CONNECT**

[MarkDenneyPhoto]

Anyone else share some of these same mistakes??

[livedeliciously]

Watching all these "lessons" makes me realize how much I need to improve. A lot.

It's very painful spending time going to a location and realizing you don't have all the tools needed to get a good picture. Tools being in your head.

[cmichaelhaugh]

No matter how long I’ve been doing this, it’s good to be reminded of these basics.

[romgur]

I like your pronunciation coz I'm from Ukraine and it's hard to understand what people say. And I gotta say your pronunciation is perfect, I wish my English teachers could speak like you

[stevenrun]

Aperture is everything. I remember starting out shooting everything wide-open and being like... "why is nothing in focus?" Starting off just shooting everything at f/11 isn't the worst idea in the world-- but I always had a need to know "why?" You have few tools in your arsenal to make a good photo. A lot of it isn't up to you if the light or subject just isn't there. Composition and aperture are so crucial that it is easy to just "abide by the rules" but if you don't understand why the "rules" exist and what they really mean, you won't know when or how you need to bend or break them to get what you're looking for. On a new (to me) lens or camera, I'll definitely shoot at a slightly elevated aperture to give me a little extra tolerance for nailing focus, and I feel like as you get better with the machine in your hand, you can open that lens up and really start to get creative with it and nail focus on your subject like it's a bodily function.

Knowing how to use hyperfocal distance is a very powerful tool, but it's a hard concept to explain, and harder to understand just by hearing someone explain it (at least for me it was). Grabbing a manual prime lens and looking at the focus scale totally crystallized the concept in my brain. I point that infinity mark at f/16 and suddenly "woah! I get it now!"

[FelixJorgenfelt]

One thing that I can recommend is aperture bracketing, especially when photographing woodlands. Not being sure what you want in field is normal, but make sure you cover the options you want for post.

[pa]

One big mistake I am still learning is getting my head around the impact of focal length on DOF. For eg, DOF on 200mm at f11 is way more shallow than I ever expected. If my maths is correct 200mm at f11 has the same DOF as 50mm at f2.8 for a given subject at the same focus distance. I have a catalogue of out of focus mistakes caused by not considering the focal length when setting the aperture.

[stevelink]

Hi Mark. Good video and commentary as always! One thing I thought you might mention, is that when you use a lens' "sweet spot" such as f/11, if instead of focusing on Infinity, focus at the hyperfocal distance, usually about 1/3 into the scene. This way, the DOF is maximized, and I find that most of my landscape images have sharp focus from foreground to Infinity, again as you said, provided that foreground objects aren't "too" close to the lens. Works for me! Thanks!

[nate_thenotso_great]

Shooting with manual focus and focus peaking have really helped to visualize how much is in focus at which aperture.

[Jonasdelrey]

In summary, understand what depth of field means.

[vishypai]

Can relate to what you explain, Mark. Took me an year to figure it out before I had my own in-the-field workflow when photographing:
1) Visualisation without camera/Finding the composition(s).
2) Frame for the visualised image in the view finder/ LCD screen which includes selecting the Focal Length and therefore the lens.
3) Select the F/Stop based on the DOF I want to capture the visualised image based on Focal Length and Lens capability
4) where to focus to get the desired DOF ( also very critical)
5) Set exposure ( ETTR without blowing out the highlights or RGB, Shoot in RAW)
6) Make the image.
7) Carefully check the histogram and the image to make sure you have the desired results.

Photographing has been so much more fun since I adopted this workflow.

[paulhendershott]

I always feel better to shoot a scene sometimes with various settings if time permits along with various focus points... I also have a pretty good idea where the sweet spots are for the 3 lenses I use the most. Unlike film where I used to waste a lot of money shooting too many similar images, now I waste far too much time occasionally culling through 400 pictures instead of 60, which is still a cost in time... which is often money as well!

[ivanfarkas]

Mark, I love your posts going Way Beyond the technical. I'm an old photographer and remember the days when the hyperfocal markings the right on the lens which made it easier to figure out depth of field. That was of course with manual focus.

[wrxtr]

So with a lot of lenses, depending upon focal length, you get diminishing returns and will be forced to focus stack if you're in a "I won't compromise" mindset. This begs the question: Do we need every image to be in perfect focus? Do images sell more or less if they are or are not in perfect focus? Does the entire frame have to be in perfect focus? This goes right into the same topic about how contrast works - Not every image do we need to see every detail within the shadows. In fact, if you examine some of the most well sold famous classic art work out there, rarely is everything in focus as well as every shadow detail perfectly detailed. Part of what I would argue, just like cropping, is what we choose to leave OUT of the image, and that's not just limited to cropping, but should include how much selective contrast one uses, and of course what depth of field one chooses. I'm not sure going down to the perfectionist end of the spectrum, while we all appreciate being the "best" of ourselves, which I'm totally on board with, but not all images need the scientific approach when it comes to perfection. In looking at some of the "art" that sells, one can often laugh at some of what we would characterize as "mistakes" from a technical standpoint, but stepping out of the technical part, which is easier to teach and make videos about, is the artistic part: How does an image make people feel? Yes, we're now in a Feelings based society, more now than ever. So with that in mind, most people make choices based upon not the rational or scientific but on how they "feel." I'd argue this is why most photography becomes repetitive and while again, the drive towards making images "perfect" is something that's measurable and tangible, sometimes, especially as you age, you start to "see" differently. I do agree on the majority of the issues presented here, except I would have emphasized more on "copy variation" which is YUGE/BIGLY/TREMENDOUS on mass produced plastic lenses/3rd party lenses. The other issue I would have brought up would be about per-visualizing at home, before you even leave the house: Paint in your mind, what kind of image do you want? This is the best and most fun part - the creative thinking part. This is what we need more of. Then all you do is go out and find that image. I'd also love to hear who inspires you? Art Wolfe is a great artist whom brought inspiration from classic painters. It's in that approach you'll notice many of his images are far from this and not so fun perfectionist approach, which feels more like a job... While I think both are good, I think viewers should be reminded that imperfections, just like in personality, bring uniqueness to photography. Personally what I've seen from most photographers is that they get instilled in them this perfectionist/engineering approach, and the images they make, while maybe technically perfect, begin to look very common and/or you see the same compositions repeated; I see this in where I live as seemingly everyone flocks to the same viewpoints for that "checklist" shot. Some of the most fun/inspirational images most have taken were unique images they found, not ones they saw and went to replicate. I do understand the benefit in knowing "how" to make technically great images, but I think we need to keep this hobby and "art" as fun as well. Like many trends in art, things tend to go in cycles... Just a different perspective and reminder to have FUN with it!!! I'd encourage anyone that wants a "breath of fresh air" to look at some of Art Wolfe's teachings and take a painting or drawing course. It makes a big difference and will make you an even better photographer and "artist".

[mikekinney]

Truly beautiful Kim you have come a long ways on your photographic journey. Happy Holidays

[HGQjazz]

Many photographers simple don't understand that every setting is a compromise and that it prioritizes one thing at the expense of another. Thanks for the insight Mark!

[yoitskimpoy]

Love it! I went out with some fellow togs and we all have different styles of shooting. I love depth in my photos so I use lower aperture whilst my other fellow togs are using higher aperture. There's no right or wrong in photography it's just the way we visualise images in our brain :)

[SandeepSharma-ribx]

Nicely explained. Request u to continue further withe type of shouldn't say small but we Photographers ignore most of the time.this is the fact we ignore small things keeping sometimes exposer sharpness etc.in our mind. Thanks.

[cainmh]

Good review of aperture. People should also be aware of the affect of focal length on depth of field. At 18mm or lower it is hard to get anything out of focus the depth of field is so large.

[riothero]

Another issue to consider is that the closer things are to you that you are focused on the smaller the depth of field will be. Also the longer the focal length lens the smaller the DOF will be.