Learning To Use My Camera: Aperture

I have this new fancy-schmancy camera and I NEED to learn how to use it better. I do NOT want to shoot in Auto mode...if I were going to do that, I might as well go back to my P&S (Point and Shoot). One of the photography forums I have discovered is doing the Peas in a Bucket's 12 Weeks to Better Photos.

While this will probably be totally boring to those of you who read this simply for pictures and stories of LA, but I am posting it here to document my homework and to have an easy reference for the lessons. Also, if any of you are interested in learning more about photography, feel free to join in!

Lesson One: Aperture
F/stop refers to how open or closed the aperture on the lense is. The wider the opening, the more light enters. When the aperture is wide open, the focus is shallower and fewer things are in focus. As the aperture is closed, more of the photo comes into focus. In the photos below, pay attention to how LA comes into focus as the aperture is made smaller. Nothing, including position of the camera, changed EXCEPT the aperture setting. BTW, the "blurriness" in the background is called bokeh. (See how fancy I am getting already...using words like aperture and bokeh!) Ok, enough already...here are the pictures:

f3.5



f/10



f/22



This next set of pictures actually illustrates the concept better (sorry, no LA in these, but you can see her tissue box come into focus in the background).

f/4



f/10



f/25



Homework Done! The only problem is, I have learned that I already want another lens (oops). Luckily it the one that everyone seems to love is really not expensive and I do have some Christmas money from my class.....