Aperture is how wide the shutter opens, to control how much light is allowed in. The wider it is the more light can pass through. The higher the number, the smaller the aperture is. Here are some examples of photos with different shutter speeds and what apertures go with the speeds.

This is an example of slow shutter speed (1/2, half a second). While the film was being exposed, the metronome was in constant motion, and the camera blurred the motion. The aperture is small, because less light is needed. The shutter is staying open longer and so the light flows through it for more time. It doesn't need to be wide open.

This is an example of fast shutter speed. The film was only exposed for 1 two hundredth of a second (1/200). The aperture had to be pretty wide, to let in a lot of light needed. Since the shutter was open only for a very short period of time, the aperture was wide.

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Aperture: 5.6

Exposure Time: 1 / 50

ISO: 100
Aperture: 7.1

Exposure Time: 1 / 100

ISO: 400

Aperture: 10

Exposure Time: 1 /125

ISO: 1600

As you can see, the picture gets brighter as the ISOs go higher. The aperture gets bigger, leaving more light to get in. The time the film is exposed goes down, because less light is needed. Since the aperture is very big, exposing the film too long would bring too much light, so the film is exposed less, giving us the right amount of light.

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