Is the f stop value in relation to photography lighting?
F stop isn’t actually just aperture. F stops measure the amount of light hitting the sensor or film. Every time you increase the exposure by one full stop, you double the light. Every time you decrease the exposure by one full stop, you half the light. Understanding this is key to knowing why one would measure lights in f stops. If I double the intensity of my key light, I’m adding one full stop to it, which means I need to adjust my camera by one full stop in the same direction to have the proper exposure (assuming it was correct before). In addition to that, in studio photography, you don’t change your camera settings. Because you can control the light, you get your camera where you want it for aesthetics, and then change the light to match. If I want to shoot at F2.8 @ 1/125″ and I have one light, I need to (or want to) measure that light at F2.8 @ 1/125″. Let’s say it has too much power at first. The meter measures it at F8.3 @ 1/125″ the first time. I crank it down four stops, mea
