Commonly Used Photography Terms
Whilst trying very hard not to utterly confuse the reader with terminology, I want to provide a few of the most commonly used terms, phrases and colloquialisms that can be heard in photography and photographic circles. I will try and provide a link to more detailed information for those that want to go deeper. Bear in mind that these will be very basic explanations. So:
- Shutter Speed. One of the two most important things to consider when taking a photograph. The shutter is what lets light into the camera to make the photo. The shutter speed is how long the shutter will stay open for. For example, on a cloudy day you might compose your photo and see that the shutter speed is 1/125 second. That’s one one hundred and twenty fifth of a second that the shutter stays open for. Not long is it! On a bright sunny day that could be 1/500 or even 1/1000 of a second. By comparison, some of those lovely night shots that you see couple have the shutter open for 30 seconds, or in some cases even minutes!
- Aperture. Also known as the f-stop, this term simply describes how big the hole in the lens is. The bigger the hole, the more light will get in and the less time the shutter will need to be open to correctly expose the shot. 1 Aperture also affects depth-of-field (below). The aperture is normally written as f5 or f11 (as examples). Try and remember it like this: The higher the number, the smaller the hole. The smaller the hole, obviously, the less light can get in.
- Depth-of-Field. This describes how much of the photo is in focus. We’ve all seen those photos where part of the main subject is very sharp in focus but an object behind is out of focus? The photographer (if he hasn’t manipulated the photo in post-processing) will have changed the aperture to affect the d-o-f. You can remember depth of field by remembering the smaller the f-stop, the less d-o-f.
- Composition. As we get further through I will talk more about the composition of an image and the basic guidelines you can follow for what is guaranteed to make your photo ordinary or stand out. This includes the simple things like checking for blinking people, cutting off heads and/or feet right through to putting a particular point of interest on a “third”2.
- Chimping. I think I’ve already mentioned this, but chimping is where the photographer will take a photo and then immediately look at the screen on the camera to check the composition and/or exposure. Think of a Chimpanzee that picks his nose and then spends ages looking at it. Chimping. It’s not a bad thing, especially when you’re trying a new technique, so don’t worry if you get caught chimping!
Those are the most important terms I think we need to know right now. Have I missed any that are really important to the absolute beginner? If you think so then perhaps you’d like to leave the term in a comment with a simple explanation of what it means?
The Challenge
I promised to a couple of readers that I would set a task. It’s been difficult to set a task when I haven’t really explained much of the technique for actually taking a photo but anyone can just “point and shoot”. So. Your task, should you wish to accept it is to take a photograph of a car. It doesn’t have to be a special car, it can be your daily ride. What I do want though is for you to take it from a different angle. Be it on the ground, directly over the top, really close up or really far away.
Once you have taken your photo, process it on your PC, take note of the shutter speed and aperture of the photo and upload it to a photo hosting site 3 and then leave a link to it in the comments with a short description of what you did to take the photo and what you think is good or bad about it.
No evaluation of your photo will be done unless you specifically ask for it! This is about self improvement by trying and doing rather than competing with other photographers. The photo must be an image taken for the tutorial and not a stock image that you have piled on your computer!
I’ll give you a couple of weeks and then I’ll write a new post with all the links to the photos for everyone to see.
Good luck!
- Most point-and-shoot cameras will automatically set the shutter speed and f-stop to what they think is the best setting for the shot. The camera isn’t infallible and will occasionally get it wrong. Even shooting with a digital SLR (dSLR) will not always get a perfect exposure and will nearly always need a little tweaking in an image manipulation program. ↩
- This is known as the rule of thirds and deserves a tutorial post in its own right! ↩
- Flickr perhaps? We could start a “Finch’s Photography Class” group? ↩
No Responses to “Commonly Used Photography Terms”
Trent - June 5th, 2008
My photography terms are even more basic. “Point and Shoot” :)
Wolfie - June 15th, 2008
Finally got round to doing this first challenge. My picture is at:
http://wolfshowl.com/images/Challenge1.JPG
Taken with a Canon Powershot A70, on the automatic setting with a shutter speed of 1/15 and an aperture of f2.8. Focal length is 5.41mm and the macro setting is on. Well, it had to be as this is just a toy Porsche.
What I like about the picture is that the macro setting really beings forward the obvious neglect that this car has suffered over the years, as its languished in a dusty cupboard.
Taking this picture also lead me to experiment with the camera a little to see the differences that changing the aperture or the shutter speed make; the differences in clarity, brightness, etc. Then the battery light blinked at me and I had to stop.
Let me know what you think and bring on the next challenge.
Photography challenge | The New Wolfs Howl - June 15th, 2008
[...] series of photography challenges, so that readers can put the skills they’re learning to use. To start with, he’s challenged us to take a picture of car from an unusual angle. I finally got round to [...]
Collin - June 15th, 2008
Wolfie - that’s great bud! Like you say, the macro setting works well. I always liked how they manage to get so much detail into the dashboards and I think you’ve captured it beautifully. It’s even better for the completely different approach to what I was expecting for the challenge.
I will take part in the myself, unfortunately, I can’t find the memory card for my Ixus right now so it will have to wait until I have time to clear the study out and locate the damned thing!
LPitt - June 27th, 2008
Took me a while… but here is is at last :
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3096/2614553593_93be9ea9b8_b.jpg
Taken with my Canon Rebel XTi. Shutter speed 1/500 sec and aperture of f/14. The picture was raw and has been converted to jpg for Flickr.
Can you guess what car this is?
Laurence
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