The difference between aperture and shutter speed
Every job or industry has its own language. This is the case in photography where aperture and shutter speed are common terms. They are two of the factors that can have a great effect on the quality of the photo. They mean completely different things, even though they are often used as if they were synonyms. Both do, however, depend on the lighting and use it to enhance features of the picture.
Two of the tools in a camera that enable an image to be captured in a photo are shutter speed and aperture. They control the amount of light that comes into the camera when you are taking the photo. The function of shutter speed is to block all the light until you are ready to take the picture and press the button. Then it opens and closes quite quickly, allowing the light to enter inside. On a camera, you can control the shutter speed by increasing or decreasing it.
The aperture, on the other hand, is the small opening in the camera through which the light enters. It can only reach the film by passing through this opening. You can also control the size of the aperture, which is also called the f-stop. A smaller f-stop means the aperture is larger. A larger f-stop means the aperture is smaller.
The light exposure of 1 second is much larger than that of 1/1000 of a second. It is longer and gives more light to the film. Exposure refers to the control of the aperture and the shutter speed of a camera. Any combination can have a drastic effect on the picture that results. It is important to have a balance between them because both shutter speed and aperture are counted in stops. If you decrease the aperture, then you should also decrease the shutter speed.
A faster shutter speed needs a longer aperture so that enough light will come into the camera for you to take a quality picture. The reverse is also true – a slower shutter speed needs a smaller aperture. The speed and the size of the aperture depend on the lighting. If you are taking a picture in bright sunlight, then in order to capture the true quality of the image, you should have a high shutter speed and a small aperture so that too much light will not enter the camera. It is best to use a slow shutter speed when you are photographing a stationary object and a fast shutter speed when you are photographing a moving object.
To make things a lot easier, buy a camera that has a semi-automatic setting. In this way the camera adjusts the shutter speed and the aperture according to the lighting.
Summary
- Shutter speed and aperture play an important role in the quality of the photos that you take.
- Aperture is the small opening that determines how much light gets through to the film.
- The two are inverses of each other and a proportional balance is needed to have a quality photo.