Interesting title, huh? If you’re wondering what it means, I am referring to an F stop, also known as aperture. In the world of photography, F stops are what give you a beautiful, blurry background. It enables you to isolate your subject from the background and really make it stand out. When you are shooting wide open, you are choosing the smallest F stop on your camera, narrowing your depth of field as much as possible. I’ve never been good at shooting wide open. I’m not sure why. I know a lot of photographers can do it but it’s something I’ve struggled with for a long time.
So, I’ve decided to challenge myself. I have been stuck in a rut for some time, shooting at 2.8 for many, many months. For the next few weeks, I’ll be taking pictures at different apertures to help get me closer to my goal of shooting wide open. I’ll be posting the images here on the blog to track my progress and see the difference.
A few weeks ago, I ordered a copy of Elizabeth Messina’s new book, “The Luminous Portrait,” and was interested to read that she shoots almost everything at 2.0. I figured that was as good a place to start as any.
I took a trip to Target and bought my camera long. My daughter and I were grabbing a card for my husband’s birthday. I must admit, I felt silly whipping out my camera in the card aisle but I am really glad I did. Shooting at F2 allowed for plenty of light and I love how the rows and rows of cards are blurred.
I used a 50mm 1.2 lens for these shots so F2 is not wide open. Pretty happy with the results but I want to do an outdoor shoot as well. Stay tuned!
Luc - Lovely ! You should shoot more at f2 or even use the 50 mm wide open !