02/16/2026
Have you ever squinted to see something more clearly? That’s essentially what your camera is doing. Let me explain 👇
Aperture or the f-stop number, impacts how much light enters your camera:
👉 A low f-stop (e.g. f/2.8) means a wide opening, or a wide aperture. The diaphragm (a set of blades inside your lens) opens up to a big circle, letting lots of light enter the camera. The caveat: a wide aperture is allowing A LOT of light to enter the camera. That extra light means more light bouncing around within the camera. More light scatter = everything outside of your chosen focal point is blurry.
But that also means...
Hello dreamy, bokeh backgrounds ✨
👉 A high f-stop (f/22), on the other hand, is a narrow opening, or a small aperture. Light can only enter from a small point in the middle of the lens, limiting the amount of light that enters. Less light = less scatter = more of the image in focus.
Great for when you want to see the entire scene🏞️
Now think about squinting. When you squint, you’re not just blocking light, you’re forcing it to enter through a tiny slit. That restriction reduces light scatter in your eye, making things appear sharper. That’s why we squint in order to see things better.
In short:
Narrow opening → less light scatter → more focus.
If you can master your camera’s aperture, you’ll be able to control not just light, but the feeling of your image, too. And that’s where the magic happens ✨
Side note: have you ever noticed how phone portraits can sometimes look a little “off”? That’s because most smartphones don’t have a true aperture. “Portrait mode” simulates depth of field through software, estimating the subject and artificially blurring the rest. This artificial aperture results in unnatural-looking edges and sharp falloff from subject to everything else.
