When I got my first digital SLR, this is the only 'trick' I wanted to learn how to do because it's one of the easiest ways to make someone think you're an amazing photographer. First things first, for those of you with a point and shoot, don't feel like you can't do any fancy shooting just because of the size. Even the most simple of cameras today has a button for macro mode (usually a little flower symbol) that can pull of a similar effect. For everyone else with the ability to manually adjust your camera settings, it's time for a quick and easy lesson on aperture.
On your lens you'll see the letter F followed by a number, that's the largest the aperture of your lens can get. It took me forever to wrap my mind around the fact that the smaller that number is, the larger the aperture opening and the tighter the focus. So an aperture of F 2.8 will have only the closest items in focus while the rest of the image is blurry (like the ones above) while an aperture of F 22 is so small that even the most distant objects are in focus. A small aperture (large F number) is usually used for landscape photography when you want to capture even the tiniest details of objects far away (like the one below).
The easiest way to learn is to use the aperture priority setting on your SLR, usually the letter A on the top dial, which allows you to pick the size of the aperture opening while letting the camera decide what shutter speed to use. In case you don't know, you adjust the aperture by using the horizontal wheel either at the front or back of the camera.
Your assignment: Pick an object and take photographs of it from the same distance using aperture priority mode. Start with a small aperture (a large F number) and slowly make it smaller, tightening the focus until you reach the largest aperture your lens is capable of (a small F number). Look at them on a larger screen and notice the differences in how much is in focus.
HAVE FUN!
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