True, But a Simplification?

In photography education, simplifications are everywhere.

“A wide aperture gives you shallow depth of field.”

“Raising ISO increases your camera’s sensitivity to light.”

“The digital sensor creates the image.”

All of those statements are technically true… but they’re also simplifications.

Simplifications are useful—they help beginners get started. But if we’re not careful, they become assumptions. And assumptions can prevent deeper understanding.

Personally, I like to dig deeper. I ask questions. I challenge simplifications. I tweak them, reframe them, and sometimes throw them out altogether.

For example, ISO doesn’t literally make your sensor more sensitive to light. It adjusts signal amplification and processing. And while a wide aperture can result in shallow depth of field, that’s only part of the story—focal length, subject distance, and sensor size also play a role.

You might call me a bit technical. That’s fair. But I’d rather teach photography as it really works, not just as we simplify it for convenience.

So I keep asking:

What does ISO actually do inside the camera?

Why does sensor size matter for depth of field?

What’s really happening when the shutter opens?

And I encourage others to ask too.

If you're curious, Canon has a great breakdown of how sensors work:

Image Sensors Explained – Canon

Simplifications are a starting point. But questions—they’re the path forward.