Aperture Settings

These pictures display my aperture experiment per class assignment.  They are arranged by aperture settings on my camera.  I started with the highest one at f-22 and go all the way down to f-4.  On the top shot I had the lens all the way out and had it at the largest f stop of 22.  As you can see the entire picture is in focus.  For the second shot I dialed down two f stops to f16 just to see if I could see a difference and I really can not tell which one is which.  For the third shot I went down to f13 and I can start to see things closer to me coming more into to focus.  The yellow flowers are more visible than in the previous shots.  In the fourth shot, I zoomed in closer because I wanted to different angle.  Again, it seems the same as the previous shot to me.  The foreground (the plants) are in focus and the grass in the background is a little out of focus.  I can start to see more of a difference in the sixth shot.  I left the aperture setting at f13 but a different shot.  In this one (#5) I can see a bigger difference.  The one yellow flower to the left is in focus while the rest are a little blurry in the background.  The more I dialed down the more visible the foreground became.  The background seemed to become less visible. This tends to increase the more the pictures descend and I dial down the f stops.  However, I could not get down to f-4 and f-3.5 unless I brought the lens in.  It was quite challenging for a minute, I didn't know why that f stop kept disappearing whenever I tried to zoom back in.  My lens measures 18mm-150mm.  This was the first time I have actually adjusted the aperture settings manually.  I usually shoot in S mode and let the camera automatically adjust the aperture for me but this techique works better when I am shooting a specific shot.  I like tight close ups and with natural face expressions.  The infants and babies are my favorite to shoot, I like catching precious moments.

I can see how this would apply to my current position and in real life.  I take a lot of pictures of small children in a classroom setting.  Everyone who has ever set foot in a pre-k classroom knows it is very bright, busy, loud, and messy.  The kids' art is up, learning posters, schedules, potty charts etc.. It is hard for me to find a blank or drab background to take pictures of the kids.  At times when I am trying to take hand shots or physical movement, it can be hard to tell what is the background and what is the subject.  All the colors and patterns runs together and are hard to differentiate.  Being able to manually set my aperture settings will help me focus more on the subject and the foreground without all the business in the background.