Assignment 1 - Depth of Field... An Introduction to Aperture

The following photographs were taken using a Canon 550D, using the standard kit EF-S 18-55mm IS lens. The assignment was to use a shallow depth of field. A shallow depth of field simply means that there's only a small part of the image in focus. The rest is blurred.

The aperture is basically the hole in the lens through which light travels. The lens aperture in photography is usually specified as an f-number. To simplify things: The smaller the f-number, the larger the aperture, the more light travels through, the less of the image is in focus. The bigger the f-number, the smaller the aperture, the less light travels through, the more of the image is in focus. To get an image with the correct depth of field and the correct exposure, both the aperture and shutter speed have to be set correctly.

To achieve a shallow depth of field, we need to use a large aperture, so a small f-number. The images below have all been taken using an aperture of f/5.6. These are photographs I took myself.