What’s My Aperture – Solved!

Photographic Innoventions by Scott Thomas

Last week I showed you the two photos below and asked for your educated guesses as to what Aperture was used for each.

All of the responses were very close and along the lines which Steve answered:

First one would be 2.8 (zoom) or 1.8 (nifty fifty) as the depth of field is small leaving only the sign in focus.

The second picture is probably an 11 (zoom) or 22 (nifty fifty) as both the rocks in the foreground and the castle are in focus.

Like Steve, most went to the extreme ends of the Aperture scale. I added the shooting data this week (and approved all the Comments so you may read them by clicking the post link above) so you can see the results.

Nikon Picture Spot near the Sword in the Stone located in front of Prince Charming Regal Carrousel at the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida

Nikon Picture Spot near the Sword in the Stone.
Nikon D700/24-120VR, 1/1600s, f/4.5, ISO 200, EV 0, 58mm Focal Length

As you can see, the lens I was using could only open up to f/4 and still created lots of out of focus background or Bokeh as us photographers refer to it.

Spires of Cinderella Castle behind rock outcroppings in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom., Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida

Spires of Cinderella Castle behind rock outcroppings in Tomorrowland.
Nikon D700/24-120VR, 1/160s, f/16, ISO 200, EV 0, 116mm Focal Length

I normally find an aperture of f/16 sufficient for my Hyperfocused landscape photos.

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to comment on this little photography tip. You all answered correctly and followed the Aperture Mantra:

Big number, big focus area, little number, little focus area.

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Scott's "Photographic Innoventions" blog focuses on intermediate to advanced photography concepts and techniques relevant for Point and Shoot and Digital SLR cameras.

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