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Photography vocabulary · Exposure

Aperture

Meaning in photography, with examples

/ˈæpərtʃər/nounCore term

In photography, aperture means: The adjustable opening inside a lens that lets light through. A wider opening lets in more light and gives a shallower depth of field.

In Turkish: diyafram, diyafram açıklığı

How it is used

Used constantly when talking about exposure and lenses. Aperture is given as an f-number such as f/2.8 or f/8. You open up or widen the aperture, and stop down or close it. A lens with a very wide maximum aperture is called a fast lens.

Example sentences

  1. Shoot this portrait at a wide aperture so the busy street behind her goes soft.

  2. For the group photo I closed the aperture down to f/8 to keep everyone sharp.

Common collocations

  • wide aperture
  • narrow aperture
  • maximum aperture
  • open up the aperture
  • aperture setting
  • f-stopA number such as f/2.8 or f/11 that describes the size of the lens opening. It is the focal length divided by the opening's diameter, so a smaller number means a wider opening.
  • depth of fieldThe area in front of and behind the point of focus that still looks acceptably sharp. It can be shallow, with a blurry background, or deep, with almost everything sharp.
  • aperture priorityA semi-automatic mode, marked A or Av, in which you choose the aperture and the camera chooses the shutter speed for a correct exposure.
  • exposure triangleA simple model showing how aperture, shutter speed and ISO work together to control exposure; changing one usually means adjusting another.
  • lensThe part of a camera that collects light and focuses it onto the sensor or film. It contains several pieces of glass and usually the aperture.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Exposure

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