In photography, a large aperture means that the subject in the foreground is pin-sharp, while objects in the background have an out-of-focus blur or so-called 'bokeh effect'. — dpa
Want to impress your friends with your superior photography skills? Just try varying the depth of field in your photos by adjusting the aperture size.
For example, a large aperture of f4 will mean that the subject in the foreground is pin-sharp, while objects in the background have an out-of-focus blur or so-called "bokeh effect".
By contrast, with a small aperture (22 or higher), the background is also sharp. The lens used is also relevant – a telephoto lens has a shallower depth of field than a wide angle one.
You don't necessarily need an expensive camera to play around with depth of field – it can be done on most smartphones. For example, iPhones automatically blur the background in portraits or close-ups when you manually focus on an object.
Android phones also offer camera modes such as macro or portrait which change the depth of field.
Models with double cameras especially have more depth information and can optically separate foreground objects from background ones.
Generally, the blurring effect produced by a smartphone camera is generated algorithmically rather than by the use of actual aperture. – dpa
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