What is resolution? How to get maximum detail in images
Photo Science – why small apertures reduce image resolution
Our photography cheat sheet below explains some of the science behind image resolution and why using a small aperture can reduce resolution. To download this cheat sheet, simply drag and drop the infographic on to your desktop.

To get the best resolution from your lens you need to set a mid-range aperture. The widest and the narrowest aperture settings (f/2.8 and f/22 in our examples below) give noticeably less detail than when using a setting of f/8.
Below is a still life scene we set up to help illustrate the effect. Beneath it we will show 100% crops of the pages in the book to show the resolution at each aperture setting.

Image resolution at wide, narrow and mid-range apertures

Image resolution at f/2.8

Image resolution at f/8

Image resolution at f/22
PAGE 1: Common questions about image resolution
PAGE 2: Photo science – why small apertures reduce image resolution
PAGE 3: How to increase or decrease image resolution
READ MORE
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Posted
on Monday, October 22nd, 2012 at 4:30 pm under Beginner.
Tags: camera tips, DSLR tips, photography cheat sheet