Read about the experiment here.
I took these pictures of the rails in a fence with our Nikon D40
and Nikon 35mm f/1.8 DX Lens
. I followed the process of the experiment, but then reordered the pictures from one extreme to the other. The first picture (top left) was set at 1/5sec and f22, while the last was 1/500sec and f1.8.
and Nikon 35mm f/1.8 DX Lens. I followed the process of the experiment, but then reordered the pictures from one extreme to the other. The first picture (top left) was set at 1/5sec and f22, while the last was 1/500sec and f1.8.Even if you don't understand what aperture is or what is happening as you perform this experiment, you can see that something is changing. All these pictures have the same exposure (for the most part,) but they do not look the same. Consider the first and last image a little larger:
So what can we learn here? As the number in your view finder next to the "f" changes, it changes how much of your image appears in focus. If you want blurry backgrounds, make that number smaller; if you want everything to look sharper, make that number bigger.
P.S. Both images are in focus. Don't make the mistake of thinking the focus of the lens is causing this - it's not. Both images are focused on the first full rail in the picture.
