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Home → Photography Tutorials

What is F-Stop and How Does it Work?

F-Stop is sometimes referred to as "F-Number", and the two are used interchangeably by photographers

By Spencer Cox 69 Comments
Last Updated On August 10, 2019

A photo of a lightning in the desert - what is f-stop and how it works
Understanding f-stops is important in order to create stunning photographs like this one.

As a beginner photographer, you might have heard of such terms as f-stop or f-number and wondered what they actually mean. In this article, we will dive into these in detail and talk about how to use them for your photography.

Table of Contents

  • Why Aperture is Important
  • What is F-Stop?
  • Why is Aperture Written as an f-number?
  • What Does the “f” Stand For?
  • Which F-Stop Values Can You Actually Set?
  • F-Stop and Depth of Field
  • What is the Aperture Scale?
  • Other Effects of F-Stop
  • Conclusion

Why Aperture is Important

As we have previously defined, aperture is basically a hole in your camera’s lens that lets light pass through. It’s not a particularly complicated topic, but it helps to have a good mental concept of aperture blades in the first place.

Yes, aperture blades, which are also known as the diaphragm in optics.

Take a look inside your camera lens. If you shine a light at the proper angle, you’ll see something that looks like this:

Aperture blades

These blades form a small hole, almost circular in shape — your aperture. They also can open and close, changing the size of the aperture.

That is an important concept! Often, you’ll hear other photographers talking about large versus small apertures. They will tell you to “stop down” (close) or “open up” (widen) the aperture blades for a particular photo.

As you would expect, there are differences between photos taken with a large aperture versus photos taken with a small aperture. Aperture size has a direct impact on the brightness of a photograph, with larger apertures letting in more light into the camera compared to smaller ones. However, that isn’t the only thing that aperture affects.

The other more important impact is depth of field – the amount of your photo that appears to be sharp from front to back. For example, the two illustrations below have different depths of field, depending on the size of aperture:

Depth of Field at Different Aperture Settings

Adjusting your aperture is one of the best tools you have to capture the right images. You can adjust it by entering your camera’s aperture-priority mode or manual mode, both of which give you free rein to pick whatever aperture you like. That is why I only ever shoot in aperture-priority or manual modes!

Before you try it out for yourself, though, there are a few other things you might want to know.

What is F-Stop?

The f-stop, which is also known as the f-number, is the ratio of the lens focal length to the diameter of the entrance pupil. If you did not understand that, don’t worry, because there is a much easier explanation of it for beginners. In very simple language, f-stop is the number that your camera shows you when you change the size of the lens aperture.

You might have seen this in your camera before. On your camera’s LCD screen or viewfinder, the f-stop looks like this: f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, and so on. Sometimes, it will be shown without a slash in between like f2.8, or with a capital “F” letter in the front like F2.8, which means the exact same thing as f/2.8. These are just examples of different f-stops, and you might come across much smaller numbers like f/1.2 or much larger ones like f/64.

f-stop on the camera
Aperture is labeled in f-numbers. In this case, I’m using an aperture of f/8.

Why is Aperture Written as an f-number?

Why is your aperture written like that? What does something like “f/8” even mean? Actually, this is one of the most important parts about aperture: it’s written as a fraction.

You can think of an aperture of f/8 as the fraction 1/8 (one-eighth). An aperture of f/2 is equivalent to 1/2 (one-half). An aperture of f/16 is 1/16 (one-sixteenth). And so on.

Hopefully, you know how fractions work. 1/2 cup of sugar is much more than 1/16 cup of sugar. A 1/4 pound burger is larger than a 1/10 pound slider.

By that same logic, an aperture of f/2 is much larger than an aperture of f/16. If you ever read an article online that ignores this simple fact, you’ll be very confused.

Pop quiz: Which aperture is larger — f/8 or f/22?

You already know the answer to this question, because aperture is a fraction. Clearly, 1/8 is larger than 1/22. So, f/8 is the larger aperture.

If someone tells you to use a large aperture, they’re recommending an f-stop like f/1.4, f/2, or f/2.8. If someone tells you to use a small aperture, they’re recommending an f-stop like f/8, f/11, or f/16.

See the below diagram that shows different sizes of aperture to understand:

Size of Aperture Chart
As you can see, an f-stop like f/2.8 represents a much larger aperture opening than something like f/16.

What Does the “f” Stand For?

A lot of photographers ask me an interesting question: What does the “f” stand for in f-stop, or in the name of aperture (like f/8)?

Quite simply, the “f” stands for “focal length”. When you substitute focal length into the fraction, you’re solving for the diameter of the aperture blades in your lens. (Or, more accurately, the diameter that the blades appear to be when you look through the front of the lens).

For example, say that you have an 80-200mm f/2.8 lens fully zoomed out to 80mm. If your f-stop is set to f/4, the diameter of the aperture blades in your lens will look exactly 20 millimeters across (80mm / 4), whereas at f/16, the diameter will be reduced to mere 5 millimeters (80mm / 16).

This is a cool concept. It also makes it easy to visualize why an aperture of f/4 would be larger than an aperture of f/16. Physically, at f/4, your aperture blades are open much wider, as shown below:

How the size of the lens aperture appears in the front of the camera at f/4 compared to f/16 aperture

Which F-Stop Values Can You Actually Set?

Unfortunately, you can’t just set any f-stop value that you want. At some point, the aperture blades in your lens won’t be able to close any smaller, or they won’t be able to open any wider.

Typically, the “maximum” aperture of a lens, which is also often referred to as “wide-open” aperture, will be something like f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2, f/2.8, f/3.5, f/4, or f/5.6.

A lot of photographers really care about the maximum aperture that their lenses offer. Sometimes, they’ll pay hundreds of extra dollars just to buy a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 rather than f/4, or f/1.4 rather than f/1.8.

Why is large maximum aperture in a lens so important? Because a lens with a larger maximum aperture lets more light into the camera. For example, a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 lets in twice as much light when compared to a lens with a maximum aperture of f/4.0. This difference could be a big deal when shooting in low-light conditions.

Since people care so much about maximum aperture, camera manufacturers decided to include that number in the name of the lens. For example, one of my favorite lenses is the Nikon 20mm f/1.8G. The largest aperture it offers is f/1.8.

Milky Way with the Moon captured at f/1.8 aperture - f-stop
I took this photo at f/1.8 with the Nikon 20mm f/1.8 lens. The only lighting in this shot is the moon. With a large aperture (and a tripod) you can practically see in the dark.

If you have a 50mm f/1.4 lens, the largest aperture you can use is f/1.4. Professional constant aperture zoom lenses like a 24-70mm f/2.8 will have f/2.8 as their maximum aperture at every focal length. Whereas cheaper consumer-grade lenses such as 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 will have their maximum aperture change depending on focal length. At 18mm, the maximum is at f/3.5, while at 55mm, it changes to f/5.6. In between is a gradual shift from one to the other.

Photographers generally don’t care as much about the smallest or “minimum” aperture that the lens allows, which is why manufacturers don’t put that information in the name of the lens. However, if it matters to you, you will always be able to find this specification on the manufacturer’s website. A lens’s smallest aperture is typically something like f/16, f/22, or f/32.

F-Stop and Depth of Field

Along with the amount of light a lens aperture allows, it has one other huge effect on your photos – depth of field.

I always find that it’s easiest to understand depth of field by looking at photos, such as the comparison below. In this case, I used a relatively large aperture of f/4 for the photo on the left, and an incredibly small aperture of f/32 for the photo on the right. The differences should be obvious:

Depth of Field Comparison f4 vs f32

This is very interesting! As you can see, in the f/4 photo, only a thin slice of the lizard’s head appears sharp. The background of the photo is very blurry. This is known as depth of field.

You can think of depth of field as a glass window pane that intersects with your subject. Any part of your photo that intersects with the window glass will be sharp. The thickness of the glass changes depending upon your aperture. At something like f/4, the glass is relatively thin. At something like f/32, the glass is very thick. Also, depth of field falls off gradually rather than dropping sharply, so the window glass analogy is definitely a simplification.

This is why portrait photographers love f-stops like f/1.4, f/2, or f/2.8. They give you a pleasant “shallow focus” effect, where only a thin slice of your subject is sharp (such as your subject’s eyes). You can see how that looks here:

Cat photo at large aperture
The most popular genre of photography is cat photography! If you want a shallow focus effect, set a large aperture like f/1.4. That’s what I used here in order to capture this cat’s eyes as sharp as possible, while rendering the background extremely out of focus. (This also works for portraits, or any other subject.)

On the flip side, you should be able to see why landscape photographers prefer using f-stops like f/8, f/11, or f/16. If you want your entire photo sharp out to the horizon, this is what you should use.

Landscape photo with small aperture and large depth of field
This might not be as exciting as cat photography, but I still like it! You can see how all the ice crystals at the bottom of the frame are completely sharp, and so are the mountains in the distance. That’s only possible because I used a small aperture of f/16.

What is the Aperture Scale?

Here’s the aperture scale. Each step down lets in half as much light:

  • f/1.4 (very large opening of your aperture blades, lets in a lot of light)
  • f/2.0 (lets in half as much light as f/1.4)
  • f/2.8 (lets in half as much light as f/2.0)
  • f/4.0 (etc.)
  • f/5.6
  • f/8.0
  • f/11.0
  • f/16.0
  • f/22.0
  • f/32.0 (very small aperture, lets in almost no light)

These are the main aperture “stops,” but most cameras and lenses today let you set some values in between, such as f/1.8 or f/3.5.

If you’d prefer to see that information in a chart, here you go:

f/1.4f/2.0f/2.8f/4.0f/5.6f/8.0f/11.0f/16.0f/22.0
Very large apertureLarge apertureLarge apertureModerate apertureModerate apertureModerate apertureSmall apertureSmall apertureVery small aperture
Lets in a huge amount of lightHalf as much lightHalf as much lightHalf as much lightHalf as much light (a very “medium” aperture)Half as much lightHalf as much lightHalf as much lightHalf as much light (by which point your photos are very dark)
Very thin depth of fieldThin depth of fieldThin depth of fieldModerately thin depth of fieldModerate depth of fieldModerately large depth of fieldLarge depth of fieldLarge depth of fieldVery large depth of field

Usually, the sharpest f-stop on a lens will occur somewhere in the middle of this range — f/4, f/5.6, or f/8. However, sharpness isn’t as important as things like depth of field, so don’t be afraid to set other values when you need them. There’s a reason why your lens has so many possible aperture settings.

Other Effects of F-Stop

The second page of our aperture article dives into every single effect of aperture in your photos. It includes things like diffraction, sunstars, lens aberrations, and so on. However, as important as all that is, it’s not what you really need to know – especially at first.

Instead, just know that the two biggest reasons to adjust your aperture are to change brightness (exposure) and depth of field. Learn those first. They have the most obvious impact on your images, and you can always read about the more minor effects later.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you now have a good sense of f-stop and the ways it affects your photos. To recap:

  • F-stop (aka f-number) is the number that you see on your camera or lens as you adjust the size of your aperture.
  • Since f-stops are fractions, an aperture of f/2 is much larger than an aperture of f/16.
  • Just like the pupil in your eye, a large aperture lets in a lot of light. If it’s dark out, and you don’t have a tripod, you’ll want to use a large aperture, something like f/1.8 or f/3.5.
  • Your lens has a maximum and minimum aperture that you can set. For something like the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G lens, the maximum aperture is f/1.8, and the minimum aperture is f/16. You can’t set anything beyond that range.
  • In addition to the amount of light aperture passes through, it also affects depth of field – how much of the image appears to be in focus. Large apertures like f/1.8 have a very thin depth of field, which is why portrait photographers like them so much. Landscape photographers prefer using smaller apertures, like f/8, f/11, or f/16, to capture both the foreground and background of a scene as sharp as possible at the same time.
  • There are other effects of aperture, too, but exposure and depth of field are generally the most important.

That’s it! If you understand the basic bullet points, you’ve got the basics of f-stop and aperture.

Of course, putting everything into practice is another matter. Even if this entire article makes sense for now, you’ll still need to take hundreds of photos in the field, if not thousands, before these concepts become completely intuitive.

Luckily, you have the building blocks. Aperture and f-stop aren’t complicated topics, but they can seem a bit counterintuitive for photographers who are just starting out. Hopefully, this article clarified some of the confusion, and you now have a better understanding of the fundamentals of aperture.

Below are some examples of photographs captured at different f-stops from f/2.8 to f/16, to give you an idea of how they are used in the field:

f-2.8 aperture with shallow depth of field
Taken at a large aperture of f/2.8, which provides a shallow focus effect.
f-8 aperture landscape photo
Taken at f/8, a relatively medium aperture value. In this case, since there was no foreground right next to my lens, every part of this image (from front to back) is very sharp.
f-16 landscape photo with small aperture
Taken at a small aperture of f/16. Here, my foreground was so close to the lens that I needed a huge depth of field.
Take me to Chapter 6: ISO

 

  1. Photography Basics Introduction
  2. What is Photography?
  3. Shutter Speed
  4. Aperture
  5. F-Stop (You are here)
  6. ISO
  7. Composition
  8. Metering
  9. Camera Modes
  10. Focusing
  11. Flash
  12. Camera Settings
  13. How to Take Sharp Pictures
  14. Photography Tips for Beginners
  15. Photography Ideas

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Filed Under: Photography Tutorials Tagged With: Aperture, Tips for Beginners, Tutorial

About Spencer Cox

I'm Spencer Cox, a landscape photographer better known for my macro photography! My photos have been displayed in galleries worldwide, including the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and exhibitions in London, Malta, Siena, and Beijing. These days I'm active on Instagram and YouTube.

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Shalom Schultz
Shalom Schultz
July 31, 2019 9:41 pm

Oh wow! I’m so glad I stumbled across this article! I am an artist trying to educate myself on how to take the best photographs of my artwork for reproduction purposes and have been absolutely overwhelmed by all the jargon…FINALLY this makes perfect sense and I have some confidence that I am headed in the right direction.

2
Reply
Micheal
Micheal
September 30, 2020 5:30 pm

One thing I took out of this article was that f stop is the number on your camera or lens as you adjust the size of your aperture, I did not know that.

1
Reply
Patty
Patty
December 30, 2020 3:25 pm

This was so helpful. Thanks for writing in words that explain rather than making it more complicated than it is.

0
Reply
Suresh Narayanan
Suresh Narayanan
December 10, 2020 6:52 pm

Good clarity in description!

0
Reply
Jonathon
Jonathon
November 2, 2020 4:48 pm

Thanks a bunch! I’ve been trying to better understand depth of field and this has really helped. A great article!

0
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Savon
Savon
October 12, 2020 8:57 pm

Thank you for these easy instructions! I now understand!!!

0
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Diana Goldman
Diana Goldman
September 8, 2020 5:25 pm

Thank you for this!! I had nearly given up all hope that I would ever understand aperture and depth of field. I found it all so counterintuitive. Yahoo…I get it now!! SO grateful.

0
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yangbo
yangbo
September 6, 2020 1:05 am

this article is the best one I have read.

0
Reply
Kundan Raj Rai
Kundan Raj Rai
August 31, 2020 2:59 am

The more I think I know the more is there to learn. There were certain aspects which were completely opposite of what I was doing. The concept is absolutely clear now and I can now experiment and put it into more use. Thank you

0
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Ivo
Ivo
July 22, 2020 7:55 am

Most scales start at f/1.0, not f/1.4. Can you explain how we go from f/1.0 to f/1.4 to start? If f/2.0 is what represents 1/2 of f/1.0, then where does the f/1.4 come from – is there a f/0.7? Notice I mean whole stops only, not 1/2 or 1/3 stops. Also, what does it mean then, for lenses that can go below f/1.0, such as a f/0.95? There must be a definition of what 1.0 means in order to go below it (exceed it)?

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Pete A
Pete A
Reply to  Ivo
July 24, 2020 1:53 pm

See the Wikipedia article f-number, especially the section Standard full-stop f-number scale:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/…mber_scale

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