Aperture answers

QI’m a newcomer to photography and recently read that you should always shoot landscapes at f/11 or f/16. Why is that? Beau Slaney

AI don’t subscribe to the view that f/11 or f/16 are the only apertures you should be using for landscapes, but the principle of using an aperture that gives you greater sharpness through the image is a good one. By using these apertures, you are increasing depth of field: this is, put simply, the area of acceptable sharpness within the image. This extends in front of and behind the point you focused at.

When you shoot a landscape photo using a wide-angle lens, you often want to get both the foreground area and far distance sharp: it is this detail that allows the viewer to really understand and enjoy the scene you have photographed. Of course, your lens has apertures beyond f/11 and f/16, probably f/22 and possibly more beyond that – so why not use these apertures for even more sharpness? Going beyond f/16 in search of sharpness is risky: ironically, you can get a reduction in sharpness and quality at the extreme end caused by diffraction, and you want to avoid this.

f/16 generally provides the point where quality and maximum sharpness come together, so it is the classic f-stop for landscapes – and exactly what I used in the coastal image below. It allowed me to have sharpness from the texture sand in the foreground right to the tip of the headland.

Of course you can use other apertures, depending on your composition and what you want to achieve. I’ve even shot landscapes at f/2.8 to deliberately limit sharpness for creative effect.

As a rule, Beau, stick with f/8, f/11 and f/16 when you want lots of sharpness in the classic landscape style, but don’t be afraid to experiment.