For a while now I have emerged myself in photography and its wonderful teachings. One of the most confusing things for me in the beginning was focal length and aperture–aperture in particular because of the numbers.

Basically, by setting your aperture, you are telling your camera how much light you want to enter when you take a picture. When you hear photographers talking about shooting “wide open,” this means they are letting lots of light in. The more light you let in, the faster your shutter speed will/can be. This is why lenses with small aperture numbers (f-stops) are called “fast” lenses. These lenses are best for action shots or low light situations.

The part about aperture that always confused me was that the lower numbers mean a bigger hole and more light. This seems quite contradictory and I don’t want to attempt to explain it here, but if you read the wonderful article I came across at Photoaxe, you’ll be much more enlightened on the topic. It is a great read for beginners and experts alike. Enjoy!

Photoaxe [via Lifehacker]