Let’s start the camera training with the mode i liked the most when i started shooting: AV (Aperture Value). Your camera might as well call this mode A. The Aperture Value defines how much open your lens will be. The more open the lens is, the more light is able to get into the photo. But hold on, if your lens is wide open, the rest of the photo which isn’t in your focus will be blurred. I love this effect, that’s why i use it a lot.

Here’s how Aperture works:

This is also called “depth of field” or “depth of focus”. You have to play a little bit with the Aperture Value to fully recognise how it works. If your lens is open the widest, let’s say F1.4 and you take a portrait of your friend it can happen that their eyes are sharp and their ears are blurred. Maybe you want that, maybe not. you have to decide for yourself.

If you are doing a city trip and shooting buildings you could think that you just put your Aperture Value at the lowest, let’s say F32 so everything is sharp. But this isn’t the case. Every lens has their “Soft Spot” where the photo has the best quality and you have to find out where it is for your lens. Usually it is between F5.6 and F8. But you have to try out and choose for yourself.