How to Use the Aperture
Large apertures are popular in portraiture and macro photography, to blur the background and
focus on the main subject. They can also create a sense of depth, lead the eye, and separate the
foreground and background. They're used in any type of low-light photography, since they are
arguably the most effective and dramatic way to let in more light without using a flash. Small
apertures are used in landscape photography, when the full depth of the scene is important and
long exposures on a tripod are possible. For the same reason, they are preferred for architectural
photography, both inside and out.
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The aperture can be changed on a DSLR through either the Aperture-priority (“A”) or fully Manual
(“M”) modes. Use a small f-number for a small depth of field and a large number for a large depth
of field. On an automatic camera, such as the PicsArt camera app, use the “portrait” scene mode
found in the menu (marked by three squares in a row) to get a large aperture and shallow focus.
For a sharp image front to back, use the “landscape” mode, which closes the aperture down small.
22 | PicsArt Monthly