When you are shooting on aperture priority mode, you, the photographer, chooses the aperture while the camera chooses the shutter speed in order to produce a well exposed photograph. So what situations can you use aperture priority mode? I will give a few different scenario where aperture priority mode comes in handy and what aperture you should choose for the scenarios.
If you're trying to take a picture of a beautiful scenery in a place with a good amount of sunlight, you could use a small aperture opening such as f11, f16, or f22. The smaller the aperture, the depth of field increase. This means more things in your photograph will be in focus. For example, if you use f2.8, and you focus on a tree that is 5 feet in front of you, another tree 20 feet behind the first tree will not be in focus. But if you make the size of your aperture smaller and use, for example, f22 instead, the second tree that was not in focus before will most likely be in focus also due to the increase in the depth of field. Remember the smaller the f number, the larger the aperture opens. The bigger the f number, the smaller the aperture opens.
So you're thinking, why don't I just use f22 all the time since I want everything to be in focus. 1, blurry background is an artistic effect a lot of portrait photographer use. Most portrait photographer prefers the subject to be in dead focus and the background in a creamy, de-focused state. 2, the smaller the aperture, the more things is in focus, but also, the less amount of light is let in to the camera. When there's not enough light, the camera often raises ISO dramatically which produces noise aka different color dots in the photograph AND the shutter speed is also slowed down in order to allow extra light to come into the camera sensor. When the shutter speed is slowed down, meaning the shutter opens longer to let light in, slight movement in the camera would cause the picture to look blurry. It's not the same blurry as when we use a big aperture and our subject is in focus and the background is blurry. Rather, everything on the picture is blurry which results in a poor photograph. Although you could use a tripod to prevent movement in the camera.
If you're shooting at an indoor event such as an indoor concert with fair amount of lights and there are no fast motions you are capturing, you should set your aperture to the widest your lens offer. For example, if I am using a lens that has the widest aperture f1.8, then I will shoot on f1.8. If my lens is a f1.4, then I will shoot on f1.4. (I would probably have to use a very high ISO and a flash depending on how dark the concert is. I prefer not to use flash as much as possible because flash washes out the picture. Although flash is a great tool and you could adjust the flash compensation, I would suggest to beginners not to use flash as much as possible.) Although if the event is an indoor sport such as indoor basketball or hockey, etc. you would use another setting, shutter priority, which I will explain in another blog.
I personally use Aperture priority all the time on almost everything. I know most photographers choose manual mode instead, but I prefer aperture priority because you don't have to keep adjusting the shutter for the rapid change in exposure. I prefer to capture things instantly in case I miss the moment.
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