A diaphragm in photography is one of the three basic principles in art photography and the other two principles are ISO and Shutter Speed By changing the shutter speed, the image will change much brighter. The diaphragm is one of the most important camera settings in different types of shooting, therefore it greatly affects your images. The diaphragm in photography can add new dimensions and volume to your photo by blurring the background of the photo, and also changes the exposure of your images and leads to the images becoming brighter or darker. In SAMYARI Art and Advertising Studio’s article, we will explain in simple language everything you need to know about the diaphragm in a camera.
Table of Contents
What is a diaphragm in photography?
In a basic language, the diaphragm is a part of the lens that transmits light into the camera body. A diaphragm works similarly to the human eye. When you are in bright or dark places, your pupil becomes larger or narrow, and its size changes accordingly. In photography, the “pupil” of your lens is called the diaphragm. You can zoom in or out on the diaphragm to get more or less light to your camera’s sensor. In most cases there are nine diaphragm blades in this lens; These blades would pass light only through the center.
The Role of the diaphragm on Photography
- Photographic exposure: The diaphragm has different effects on your photos. One of the most important effects is the brightness or exposure of your images. A small diaphragm does the exact opposite, making your photo darker. In a dark place such as indoors or at night, to get more light, you can choose an open diaphragm, just like your pupil, which widens when you are in a dark environment.
- Depth of field: Another major effect of the diaphragm is what is known as “depth of field.” The depth of field is a part of your photo, the front of which looks sharper than the end of the photo. Some images have a small depth of field, with the background of the image completely out of focus. Another set of images has a lot of depth of field, in this case, both the foreground and the background of the photo are sharp.
An open or wider diaphragm will blur a large amount of the photo’s background. An open diaphragm is often used for portraits or photographs of objects that you want to make the background blur.
By making the diaphragm more narrow and smaller could lead to the background of the photo being a lesser blur, which is usually suitable for landscape and architecture photography.
What is the diaphragm number in photography and F-Stop?
The diaphragm can also be expressed by a number called “f” or “f-stop”. Whenever you see the diaphragm number, the letter “f” appears before the number, like f / 8. On the LCD of your camera, the diaphragm is something like this: f / 2, f / 3.5, f / 8, etc., which in some cameras they remove the slashes and shows like; f2, f3.5, f8 and so on. Therefore, f-stops are a way to describe the size of the diaphragm (how the diaphragm blades open or close) for a particular image.
Diaphragm ranges in photography (large diaphragm versus small Diaphragm)
One of the most important parts of the diaphragm that confuses beginner photographers is the number is f. This is something you need to pay attention to. The small f-number indicates a wider diaphragm, and the large f-number indicates a smaller diaphragm. For example, f1 / 4 is larger than f / 2 and much larger than f /
Camera lenses restrictions
Each lens has a limit that gives the diaphragm a maximum and minimum value. If you look at the technical specifications of your lens, it tells you what the maximum and minimum diaphragm are. For each lens, the maximum diaphragm is more important because it tells you how much light the lens can absorb (basically how you can shoot in a dark environment). A lens with a diaphragm of f / 1.4 or f / 1.8; These values are considered to be their maximum diaphragm and are known as a fast lens because they can transmit more light, a “slow” lens with a maximum diaphragm of f / 4.0. That’s why lenses with large diaphragms are usually more expensive. The minimum diaphragm is not very important, because almost all new lenses can provide at least f / 16 as the minimum diaphragm.
The diaphragm is a vital element in photography and is probably one of the most important camera settings. That’s why the depth of field and exposure have a big impact on an image. Our well-experienced team in SAMYARI Art and Advertising Studio provides you with the best photography that all the required elements would be implemented in your photos to magnify the value and quality of your photos in the best way possible.