Photographic terminology

Shutter speedA camera shutter is a curtain in front of the camera sensor that stays closed until the camera fires. When the camera fires, the shutter opens and fully exposes the camera sensor to the light that passes through the lens aperture. Shutter speed is also known as “exposure time” and is the length of time a camera shutter is open and exposes light into the camera sensor. If the shutter speed is faster, it makes the image look as if the time has frozen still (for example, capturing water freezing mid-air). On the other hand, if the shutter speed is slower then it can create an effect called “motion blur” which makes the objects within the image look blurred in the direction of motion. An example of this would be when capturing images of cars moving at speed.

Shutter speedFast Shutter Speed

Slow Shutter Speed

ISOISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor. The same principles apply as in film photography – the lower the number the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain. ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor. The same principles apply as in film photography – the lower the number the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain. The ISO setting is mostly used in a darker situation to get a faster shutter speed.

ISO

LOW ISO HIGH ISO

Aperture & Depth of FieldDepth of field is the front to the back of a photograph in which the image is sharp. You can control if the foreground or the background is including within this range in order to sharpen sections which would suit you best. If you have a shallow depth of field then you have a small range of focus and only the foreground will be in focus, opposed to a deep depth of field in which the background would be focused as well.

Aperture is the amount of light controlled in through the lens. This is the easiest way to control the depth of field. When using aperture, you change the ‘f-stop’ and the higher the f number is then the larger the depth of field and the lower, the smaller the depth of field.

Aperture & Depth of FieldDeep depthNarrow depth

Manual ExposureManual exposure is made up of 3 elements: shutter speed, aperture and ISO. The shutter speed controls how long the shutter is open for when capturing an image, the aperture controls how much light is let in through the lens and the ISO controls the sensitivity of the camera. As all of these settings are connected, you will have to change them all to match each other.

Automatic ExposureAutomatic exposure is a feature on digital cameras which will automatically adjust the correct exposure to fit the image being taken. This means that the user does not need to input any details such as the aperture. This setting is ideal for when you want to take a quick image without having to change aspects such as the ISO and shutter speed.

Colour balanceColour balance is the adjustment of colours in an image (typically primary colours such as red, green and blue). When adjusting colour balance, the overall colours are changed and this is usually used for colour correction.

White balanceWhite balance (shown as WB on a digital camera) is the removal of ‘unrealistic colour casts’ which make the colour white appear to be something else. Usually the temperature of the image is changed to make it cooler or warmer.

CompositionComposition is the arrangement an placement of certain objects within an image. Composition can be changed multiple times in order to get the perfect image. This is an important factor within photography because it can affect how an image is portrayed.

Rule of ThirdsThe rule of thirds is when you align objects within an image. The screen is usually broken down into 9 segments. The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally.

Rule of Thirds

Analogous ColoursThese are groups of three colours which are next to each other on the colour wheel. One tends to be a dominant colour which is a primary or secondary colour. Red and orange are examples.

Complementary ColoursTraditionaly, the complementary color pairs are red–green, yellow–violet, and blue–orange, though these pairings fail the modern definition of complementary colors, as they produce a brown color when combined. These colours tend to be opposite on the colour wheel

MacroMacro photography is extreme close up photography, usually of very small subjects. In these images, the small subjects normally looks larger than they are.