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Everyone I teach says the same thing - you can see this stuff written down, but seeing it demonstrated is so much easier to understand! Photographyĭiffraction rears it's ugly head - keep in mind that most lenses are sharpest when used at mid-rangeĪpertures (called the 'sweet spot' - usually f/8). To improve your skills fast? Even a 3 hour session can be really beneficial. Check your screen carefully and re-take if necessaryĭepth-of-field is a complex issue, so if you come to Cornwall on holiday, why not come for a one-to-one session This is why I always emphasize this when teaching landscape photography to beginners - check your screen after every shot! So to recap, your camera doesn't act like a 'what you see is what you get' when you have a long lens on. BUT.watch out - if you have your aperture set at between f/8 - f/22, you'll be happily seeing the grass image on the right, take the picture, walk away, then when you get home you'll notice that you actually ended up with the first picture! If you wanted the second picture, you'd have to change the aperture to f3.5. If you focus on the grass, the background will look nicely blurred as in the second image, because your long lens will show you it at the smallest f-number the lens has (could be f/4 or f/5.6). So, imagine you're looking at the grasses above through your viewfinder with a long lens setting. This lesson is only important for medium-long lenses (50mm to 500mm range), as they have much less depth-of-field. This is the way cameras work - they only close the lens down to your chosen aperture during the split second after you've pressed the shutter. IMPORTANT: The thing to remember about depth-of-field is that when you're looking through your lens you're seeing everything at the smallest f-number the lens has (could be a number between f/2 - f/5.6). This only works in bright light if you're handholding your camera, or anytime with a tripod. If you're learning about photography, use a small aperture (large number like f/16) if you want most things in focus.