Your guide to Photography key words...
When adding annotations to your work, either in your sketchbook or online, you should always use the correct terminology.
Below are a few of the words you should become familiar with and their meanings.
S.L.R.
(Single Lens Reflex)
SLR cameras use a mirror between the lens and the film, or image sensor, to provide a focus screen.
This means the image you see in the viewfinder (or LCD) will be the same as what appears on film or as your digital image.
D.O.F.
(Depth of Field)
A camera can only focus its lens at a single point, but there will be an area that stretches in front of and behind this focus point that still appears sharp.
This zone is known as the depth of field. It’s not a fixed distance, it changes in size and can be described as either ‘shallow’ (where only a narrow zone appears sharp) or deep (where more of the picture appears sharp).
Camera Body
A camera body is the primary portion of the digital camera, which contains the controls, the LCD, the internal image processor, and the associated circuitry.
Wide Angle
A lens system on a camera that can cover an angle of view of 60 degrees or more and therefore has a fairly small focal lengh. A fish eye lens is an example of this.
Shutter Speed
Shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter is open. Shutter speed is measured in seconds – or in most cases fractions of seconds. The bigger the denominator the faster the speed (ie 1/1000 is much faster than 1/30).
Fast Shutter Speed
To freeze movement in an image you’ll want to choose a fast shutter speed.
The faster the shutter speed the easier it is to photograph the subject without blur and “freeze” motion and the smaller the effects of camera shake.
Shake
Camera shake means that during the exposure the camera moved. This movement can be very small and still create blurry images. It is usually caused by one of the following: holding the camera incorrectly, slow shutter speed or unstable support.
Light
The way you use light in your photographs will have a huge effect on the outcomes.
You should think about the angle of the light entering the frame, what kind of shadows you want, and whether you want to use fill-in-flash (using flash to light the subject if you have a really bright background).
Photograph
A photograph or photo is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic medium such as a CCD or a CMOSchip.
Sharp
Sharp photos are much more appealing than soft images. Some of the reasons you may have a 'soft' or blurry photo are: poor focus, the subject moved, the camera moved or camera 'noise' from the ISO settings.
Focus
On nearly all DSLRs you can auto focus or manual focus. Using spot focus decide what you want to be the main focus in your image and press the shutter down half way to auto focus, when your happy press the shutter fully to take the shot. If you want to manually focus use the focusing ring on your lens.
Camera Lens
You can attach a different lens to your camera depending on what and where you're planning to photograph
Zoomed in
To rapidly increase the magnification of a distant object using a zoom lens.
Slow Shutter Speed
Some cameras also give you the option for very slow shutter speeds that are not fractions of seconds but are measured in seconds (for example 1 second, 10 seconds, 30 seconds etc). These are used in very low light situations, when you’re going after special effects and/or when you’re trying to capture a lot of movement in a shot.
If you’re using a slow shutter speed (anything slower than 1/60) you will need to use a tripod.
Motion Blur
Motion blur is the apparent streaking of rapidly moving objects in a still image or a sequence of images such as a movie or animation. It results when the image being recorded changes during the recording of a single frame, either due to rapid movement or long exposure.
Aperture
Aperture is ‘the opening in the lens.’ When you hit the shutter release button of your camera a hole opens up that allows your cameras image sensor to catch a glimpse of the scene you’re wanting to capture. The aperture that you set impacts the size of that hole.
The larger the hole the more light that gets in – the smaller the hole the less light. Aperture is measured in ‘f-stops’.
F-Stop
The f/stop regulates how much light is allowed through the lens by varying the size of the hole the light comes through.
Each f-stop lets in twice as much light as the next higher one, and half as much light as the next lower one. This makes it simple to adjust exposure by selecting shutter speed and f-stop combinations.
Tripod
A tripod is a stand with three legs that holds a camera. Photographers and filmmakers use a tripod when they want the camera to be held completely still, without the slight bit of shaking that their hands might cause.
Exposure
A photograph's exposure determines how light or dark an image will appear when it's been captured by your camera. This is determined by three camera settings: aperture, ISO and shutter speed.
Composition
Composition is a way of guiding the viewer’s eye towards the most important elements of your work, sometimes – in a very specific order. A good composition can help make a masterpiece even out of the dullest objects and subjects in the plainest of environments. On the other hand, a bad composition can ruin a photograph completely, despite how interesting the subject may be.