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Concepts in Photography
Aperture value and the depth of eld
You can blur or sharpen the background of a photo by changing the size
of the aperture. A large aperture gives your photos a shallow depth of
eld (DOF). Objects immediately in front of or behind your subject will
be blurred, while the subject will be in focus. A small aperture gives your
photos a deep depth of eld. Objects far in front or far behind your subject
and your subject will be in focus.
A photo with a deep DOF A photo with a shallow DOF
The aperture housing contains several blades. These blades move together and
control the amount of light passing through the center of the aperture. The
number of blades also aects the shape of light when shooting night scenes. If
an aperture has an even number of blades, light divides into an equal number
of sections. If the number of blades is odd, the number of sections is double the
number of blades.
For example, an aperture with 8 blades divides light into 8 sections and an
aperture with 7 blades into 14 sections.
7 blades 8 blades