Here are four pictures I took with different aperture settings or as we like to say,  f-stops.  2.8, 4.0, 11 and 19.  Can you tell the difference in what is in focus and what isn’t?

The bigger the f-stop number is, the more in focus everything is…at least that is how I think of it when trying to take a picture.  I always ask myself what I want out of the photo.  Do I want everything in focus or do I want a nice bokeh look?   This is called your depth of field.  If I am taking pictures of 1 person, I usually try to take them with a 2.8 f-stop, or wide open, with my 85mm 1.8 lens I would put it on 1.8.  If there is more than one person I might go with a 4.0 or a little higher depending on the location.

 

 

 

Why not try this yourself?  Find something to photograph and take a few different pictures with different f-stops.  Then you can compare and see for yourself how to create different looks in photography.