Pictures at very small aperture, yay or nay?

Hello everyone

This has bothered me for a while: many pictures posted on Amazon's user reviews are taken at very very small apertures. Take this one for example:

http://www.amazon.com …ref=cm_ciu_imag​es_pl_link

I thought lenses generally become sharper at smaller apertures, and then quality deteriorates again at extremely small apertures. I see how the photographer took the shot at f22 because it's bright outside, but then couldn't shutter speed (1/30) be bumped up a little so a larger aperture can be used?

I suspect the photographer was wanting to maximize depth of field for that image rather than because it was a bright day, so opted for the smallest aperture.

But yes, upping the shutter speed and widening the Aperture would achieve the same exposure.. just not the same Depth of Field

With the pic you linked to, the photog obviously wanted to get the close gravestones as well as the distant ones in "reasonable" focus, so he/she made the choice.

I've done the same, but not very often -- more often my "closer" subjects will be at a bit of a distance.

Macros are often subjects that "need" a narrow aperture, depending on how close you are and then how much of the subject you want in focus. The alternative is to use "focus stacking", it can work well as long as you can pull off multiple shots with adjusted focusing and they can "align" well in software!

Check out this great video by Bryan Peterson about shooting at f22. He gives some really great info about this at around 1:45.

http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=M0afsXeaMUw

I only avoid f/22 so I don't have to clean my sensor as often.

sniperruff wrote in post #15736967
I thought lenses generally become sharper at smaller apertures, and then quality deteriorates again at extremely small apertures. I see how the photographer took the shot at f22 because it's bright outside, but then couldn't shutter speed (1/30) be bumped up a little so a larger aperture can be used?

sure, a lower (larger) aperture and higher shutter speed would have looked very similar