• Home
  • Archive
  • Tools
  • Contact Us

The Customize Windows

Technology Journal

  • Cloud Computing
  • Computer
  • Digital Photography
  • Windows 7
  • Archive
  • Cloud Computing
  • Virtualization
  • Computer and Internet
  • Digital Photography
  • Android
  • Sysadmin
  • Electronics
  • Big Data
  • Virtualization
  • Downloads
  • Web Development
  • Apple
  • Android
Advertisement
You are here:Home » What is a Stop in Photography?

By Abhishek Ghosh December 23, 2018 11:25 pm Updated on December 23, 2018

What is a Stop in Photography?

Advertisement

What is Stop of Exposure in Photography? For a washed-out looking photo (overexposed), it is convenient to instruct someone to adjust stop by one or couple stop to get the normal feel. Stops are approximate. Exposure has no unit. We can not say how many stop exposure overall as photo received. Stop just describes the relative changes in the amount of light let into the camera. In easy language, one stop in photography means either double or half-light than the light in previous settings. Exposure depends on the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. As in traditional film photography, there was no preview, useful exposure meter and instant image result, the calculations were quite important. The parameters and exposure triangle are still important but ISO and the film have been digital and for being digital, there is some variation of result from brand to brand, at least up to mid-range APS-C cameras. An f/stop is a measurement of exposure. Exposure is made from the settings, making up the exposure triangle – shutter speed, ISO or aperture settings. Understanding stop in digital photography remained important as it was in film days.

 

What is a Stop in Photography in Technical Way?

 

Exposure value (EV) represents a combination of a camera’s shutter speed and f-number, in such a way that all combinations which yield the same exposure have the same EV value. The difference of 1 EV corresponds to power-of-2 exposure step, referred to as a stop.

The EV concept was developed in the 1950s with the intention to simplify equivalent camera exposure settings by replacing combinations of shutter speed and f-number with a single number like 15. Some automation was also employed, which actually was great for the beginners but not for the advanced users.

Advertisement

---

From the concept of the exposure triangle, we have 3 kinds of stops – ISO stops, shutter speed stops and stops in the aperture. Because simple three are the factors to control light.

ISO

Doubling the ISO makes the exposure twice, so the new settings increase by a single stop. In digital photography, we try to keep the ISO towards lesser than promoted by the manufacturers to avoid noise – we use the ISO values common for films – 100, (125), 200, 400. It is easy to understand how much light will be for ISO values such as 100, 200, 400…1000.

ISO value of 10,000 probably impractical and really reserved for very low light for a desperate attempt. Unfortunately, digital sensors made ISO a joke beyond a value. “Feel” of ISO 100 and ISO 400 film was/is different. I am not comfortable with ISO in digital cameras. It is risky without live view on a bigger screen to guess various kind of noises. It is better to try to keep the ISO within three options – 100, 200, 400. For different reasons, 125 has special importance.

Aperture

It is a slightly complex matter of physics and the most important matter in photography (in most cases). This is what will be varied for the price of the lens. Also, this will invite various artistic effects of the photo.

Aperture is measured using something called the f/stop scale. We often forget that aperture is just a diameter for a particular! The f or just f followed by a number denotes how wide the aperture is which, in turn, affects the exposure and depth of field. Lower the number, the wider the aperture, more is the light. Aperture openings are measured as fractions of the focal length of a lens. That is what the f stands for in the aperture rating – focal length. The f/stop numbers come from equation used to find the size of the aperture from the focal length of the lens. For a 50mm lens with the aperture of f/2, the width of the aperture will be 50 divided 2, giving you a diameter of 25mm. You then have to take the radius (half the diameter), square it giving 156.25 and multiply that by pi. The result will be 490.9 250mm² to fit the equation to find the area with the equation pi * r². So we can find the real area of the aperture at various f-stop values. That 50mm lens, with the aperture of f/2.8 will have an area of 250mm². 250mm² is near half compared to 490.9mm². So half light will pass.

A 50mm lens with an aperture of f/2.8, has the actual diameter of the aperture opening like
50mm/2.8 = 17.85mm. If we open the aperture up to its maximum of that particular lens like 1.4, we can measure that as 50mm/1.4 = 35.71mm. This thing is standardized in lens manufacturing. So the difference between an aperture of f/2.8 and an aperture of f/1.4 is a difference of four times more light, that is two stops. There are a few standard “full stops” that f-numbers are rated in:

Vim
1
2
3
#
1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, 45, 64
#

Shutter Speed

Now about shutter speed. Most of the time, we shoot at a fraction of a second, such as 1/200, to double this number, we need to halve the denominator (in this case 200). 1/100 is twice of 1/200, so that is one stop and the exposure is doubled by changing to 1/100. Again, 1/50 is twice than 1/100. We also can talk about half-stop or third-stop. Third-stops is what most cameras use for their settings. These are just arbitrary divisions of each stop. We can decrease the shutter speed by a third of a stop.

Outside special usage, with a tripod and remote shutter release usually, 1/250 is enough good to be handled by a novice. An expert can keep the camera stable at 1/250 stable while handheld. Very higher or very lower invite various artistic effects of the photo and they are niche photography.

What is a Stop in Photography

(Illustration credit: frankwhitephotography.com. It is really a great and easy illustration)

 

Conclusion

 

So, in this article, we understood “stop” of ISO, aperture and shutter speed. One stop increase in light can mean adjustment of any of these. For the common purpose, in the manual mode, we can keep the shutter speed at 1/250. Aperture commonly limited by the lens, ISO maintained within 100 to 1000. The technical part of photography is not rocket science for common scenes. A 50mm lens with an aperture of f/1.4 is just great for various kind of artistic effects. Background blur, bokeh usually become of different quality from 85mm focal length. A good 85mm f/1.4 lens is costly. You can use 50mm f/1.4 and printed blurred backdrop to escape that limitation. Such usage can be seen in bird photography (if pet bird sits closer to the camera then why buy lens).

Exposure value is a base-2 logarithmic scale, EV = log2 N²/t. EV 0 corresponds to an exposure time of 1s and a relative aperture of f/1.0. If the EV is known, it can be used to select combinations of exposure time and f-number from a standard table.

Hyperfocal distance and depth of fields are related topic to f-stop. There are easy Android applications for photography which make the things easy.

Tagged With photography what is a stop , what is a stop in photography
Facebook Twitter Pinterest

Abhishek Ghosh

About Abhishek Ghosh

Abhishek Ghosh is a Businessman, Surgeon, Author and Blogger. You can keep touch with him on Twitter - @AbhishekCTRL.

Here’s what we’ve got for you which might like :

Articles Related to What is a Stop in Photography?

  • Things Beginners Should Know About Photography

    100 Things Beginners Should Know About Photography Delivers You a Wonderful Free Guide For DSLR Photography Which are Essentials For the Beginners.

  • Arduino and LED Bar Display : Circuit Diagram, Code

    Here is a Guide Explaining the Basics, Circuit Diagram, Code on Arduino and LED Bar Display. LED Bar Display is Actually Like Multiple LED.

  • Nginx WordPress Installation Guide (All Steps)

    This is a Full Nginx WordPress Installation Guide With All the Steps, Including Some Optimization and Setup Which is Compatible With WordPress DOT ORG Example Settings For Nginx.

  • Shutter Speed : What it is and How it Works?

    Shutter Speed is measured in seconds or fractions of a second. Digital SLR and also advanced compact digital give the possibility to set the Shutter Speed.

performing a search on this website can help you. Also, we have YouTube Videos.

Take The Conversation Further ...

We'd love to know your thoughts on this article.
Meet the Author over on Twitter to join the conversation right now!

If you want to Advertise on our Article or want a Sponsored Article, you are invited to Contact us.

Contact Us

Subscribe To Our Free Newsletter

Get new posts by email:

Please Confirm the Subscription When Approval Email Will Arrive in Your Email Inbox as Second Step.

Search this website…

 

Popular Articles

Our Homepage is best place to find popular articles!

Here Are Some Good to Read Articles :

  • Cloud Computing Service Models
  • What is Cloud Computing?
  • Cloud Computing and Social Networks in Mobile Space
  • ARM Processor Architecture
  • What Camera Mode to Choose
  • Indispensable MySQL queries for custom fields in WordPress
  • Windows 7 Speech Recognition Scripting Related Tutorials

Social Networks

  • Pinterest (24.3K Followers)
  • Twitter (5.8k Followers)
  • Facebook (5.7k Followers)
  • LinkedIn (3.7k Followers)
  • YouTube (1.3k Followers)
  • GitHub (Repository)
  • GitHub (Gists)
Looking to publish sponsored article on our website?

Contact us

Recent Posts

  • How to Restrict Certain Posts or Categories In WordPress by CountryJune 6, 2023
  • Influence of Digitization on Procurement : Part 1June 6, 2023
  • How We Can Show Apple Icon, Windows Logo on Website TextJune 5, 2023
  • What is Google Bard? How it WorksJune 5, 2023
  • How to Create a PHP Installer Script to Create Tables in MySQL DatabaseJune 4, 2023
PC users can consult Corrine Chorney for Security.

Want to know more about us?

Read Notability and Mentions & Our Setup.

Copyright © 2023 - The Customize Windows | dESIGNed by The Customize Windows

Copyright  · Privacy Policy  · Advertising Policy  · Terms of Service  · Refund Policy

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT