# Advantages/Disadvantages of having larger/smaller aperture



## Conspiracy

well a larger aperture lets in more light so it allows you to shoot in lower light situations and get a faster shutter speed while trying to keep ISO as low as possible of course, and this also give you the shallower DOF which is high key situations like direct sunlight will require much higher shutter speeds because you are letting lots of light in while in an already bright shot. i see photographers shoot still shots with large apertures in good light at crazy high shutter speeds because they want to get the nice shallow DOF that gives great bokeh

its all personal preference not every shot needs to be taken wide open. depends on the look you want for that specific shot. taking a picture at f2.8 will allow for shallower DOF than say f9 but that doesnt mean 2.8 is better. i would shoot a landscape at f9 but i wouldnt want to shoot a portrait at f9 because i would want a shallow DOF to separate my subject from the background.

the lower the fstop number the wider the aperture which means more light is coming through the lens. and for the opposite the higher the fstop number the smaller the aperture which means less light is coming through the lens

i hope that helps. this is just my advice and opinion on the matter and is by no means meant to be taken as professional information or fact because i am by no means a pro photographer lol


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## Manyak

Different situations call for different settings. If you wanted to take a shot of a helicopter with some motion blur on the blades, you'd want a longer shutter speed so you'd have to use a smaller aperture and/or an ND filter. If you wanted tons of DOF, like for a landscape, you'd also want a smaller aperture.

It really all depends.


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## dudemanppl

f/1.4 all day every day unless the lens either doesn't have it or I need to do something speshul with the shutter speed as Manyak said.


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## claymanhb

I love small f-stops...unless I'm trying to capture everything in view.


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## Marin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *claymanhb;14381498*
> I love small f-stops...unless I'm trying to capture everything in view.


I don't, diffraction.


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## cHoBomonkey

Pretty much what everyone else said.

Also, lenses tend to perform a little worse when they are shot wide open. People might go down a few stops to reduce vignetting/abberations increase sharpness, etc. if they dont need a super shallow depth of field


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