Much like the iris in your eye the aperture is the iris like opening inside a lens that controls how much light reaches the image sensor. An aperture will affect both exposure and depth of field within a photo.
A depth of field is how much depth or how far your lens will allow you to see clearly and visibly. It is determined by lens type, the aperture size / setting and how far away the subject is.
The Aperture value (Av) is determined by "F" stops. The smaller the value, or number, the greater the opening within the aperture, the less depth a photo will have, the greater the value, the smaller the opening within the aperture the deeper your photo will be.
By now I should have you wondering, what does flat and deep mean? If so let us explain this with some more photos and examples.
Above: This photo was taken at an aperture value or F-stop of 1.8. The Aperture in the lens is wide open making most of the photo blurred with the small exception of the Lego light post and radio. This is what I like to call a flat photo.
Above: This photo was taken with an Av of 7.0, resulting in a medium depth of field. Our Lego man now comes into focus with most of the background blurred.
Above: Aperture value is now 22 on this photo and is the smallest my lens will let me go. For an example of how the lens would look when you press the capture button see the very first photo of this lesson. We can now see that the whole scene is now in focus.
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