This year I’ve been using a very different aperture approach to my previous life in photography – plus other big changes!

Those of you who know me know that I love shallow depth of field, and that I almost exclusively keep my aperture wide open, or nearly wide open. It is something I’ve always done, and I have a number of reasons on why I like to do this. 

“What I like about shooting wide open with lenses…“

Firstly, for work or play I almost exclusively shoot in aperture priority mode. I use the aperture to control my depth of field and I like the aesthetic the you get when your subject is in focus, and other things are out of focus around it. 

I also like the imperfections that shooting at wide apertures give you, it’s a way to utilise the lenses characteristics. I don’t want them image to be a carbon copy of the world, or a carbon copy of those who have shot the same scene as me.

“It is all change…“

However this year (actually since I made my big change in December 2025) I have had a very strict rule that I have stuck to. 

• For general use, on everything other than portraits or where I need the extra light capabilities I use an aperture of F/8

• For portraits I have been shooting between F/1.4 and F/4 to get a good mix. 

There are of course many benefits of shooting at F/8 over F/1.4 (or the widest aperture of a lens).

• Superior Sharpness – Most lenses are not at their sharpest when wide open. Due to optical physics, lenses usually reach their peak performance—offering the most detail and contrast—about 2 to 3 stops down from their maximum aperture. For many lenses, this lands right around f/8.

• Increased Depth of Field – When shooting wide open (like f/1.8 or f/2.8), the “plane of focus” is razor-thin. Although I’ve always liked the look, I’m enjoying the look of much more things in focus.

• Reduction of Lens Aberrations – As I mentioned, I like the characteristics of lenses shot wide open, however shooting at F/8 means the the optical flaws all but disappear. Chromatic Aberration, soft corners and vignetting don’t need to be fixed.

• Forgiving Focus Accuracy – Although autofocus is quick and accurate, it’s quicker and more forgiving at F/8. Plus when I use my manual focus lenses, there is a lot less room for error.

• Improved Contrast and Colour – Because stopping down to f/8 reduces internal lens flare and light scattering, the resulting images often have punchier contrast and more saturated, accurate colours straight out of the camera compared to shots taken at maximum aperture.

“And more changes…“

It is not just a change in my choice of aperture this year, I’ve also made a few other changes to my photography that I would only do on rare occasions (or work) in the past.

You may have noticed I’ve started using tripods much more. I have always hated tripods, but I am embracing them, using them for my long exposure shots and my focus stacking. I’ve also used tripods in experimental portrait images when I’ve been looking for a certain look. 

My white balance is now fixed a lot more than it used to be. I fully trust my cameras white balance choices, but I’ve been setting it on occasions where I want it to always be the same. Sometimes it’s a creative choice, others just because I want consistency. 

I’ve also been spending a lot more time editing, as I embrace a more darker style in my portraits and in my general photography (when not shooting straight from camera) I am masking to dodge and burn images to bring much more depth to them while also making images far less saturated.

And finally, I have not been saving and backing up every single image I take anymore. Quite often in only saving the final edits, or a selection of the raw files.

“So, why have my shooting habits changed?“

As I mentioned, I’m December last year and the beginning of this year, I just new I wanted to change the way I do things, and be more technical in the way I approach things.

It has been about elevating my images and taking them to the next level. I spent almost a decade running the group that got me into the habit of running around instead of slowing down and enjoying, and that is what I am doing.

“Has it made a difference?“

Of course, the big question is, has it all made a difference? Well, looking at the images since the big change, definitely! Of course I still get times where I want to go out and get my images straight from camera, and that is somewhere where the aperture change of thinking is working well too.

The biggest difference though is the way I feel about the photography I do for me. I am enjoying going out and setting up the shot, looking for different compositions and thinking about it’s look and feel when editing. 

I look at me images since the change, and I am happy that each and every one of them I could hang on my wall. And at the end of the day, if you don’t feel you can hang an image on your wall, it’s not much of an image. You should always be proud of your work.

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My name is Mark G Adams. I am a professional photographer from South Wales, shooting weddings, events and portraits as well as running meets and workshops. For fun I like to shoot landscapes, wildlife and occasionally do street photography. Enjoy my website as I share my knowledge learned over decades of working and having fun in photography.
You can find all the latest articles and blogs on my homepage here.
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