Photographic Terminology

Rose Bishay

Unit 57: Photography and Photographic Practice Terminology

P1, P2, M1, M2

Shutter Speed

In photography, shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time a camera's shutter is open

when taking a photograph. The amount of light that reaches the film or image sensor is proportional to the exposure

time.

Shutter SpeedFast Shutter Speed Slow Shutter Speed

Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec.The faster the shutter speed the less light the camera lets in, this is good for when you are in a very bright area/daylight, due to the fact the

Shutter Speed: 1/5 sec. The lighting in this room was quite dark so the shutter speed had to be much slower in order to let more light in so that the image was clear and bright.

ISO

In Digital Photography 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.

ISO

High ISO Low ISO

ISO: 3200The higher the ISO the brighter the image gets, as it makes the light colours even lighter. Due to the brightness of the room already, the ISO is obviously too high for this image and makes it unclear to see.

ISO: 200This image is much more clear as the room was very light so it wasn’t necessary to enhance the brightness, and actually created a more defined image by making the ISO lower.

Aperture & Depth of Field

Depth of field is the distance between the nearest and furthest

objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image.

Aperture & Depth of Field

Narrow Depth of Field Wide Depth of Field

Narrow depth of field is when one object in the picture is really prominent and defined with a blurred background or foreground. In order to achieve this the F-stop must be lower so that the shutter is much wider.

Wide Depth Of Field is when everything in the picture is clear and defined including the background. In order to achieve this the F-stop must be higher as the shutter is smaller.

Manual Exposure

When using Manual exposure, aperture, shutter speed, focus, ISO, Depth of field, are controlled, so you can create the perfect photograph completely under your control.

White Balance

The White Balance setting you choose will change the colour balance in your pictures, making it warmer or cooler depending on how the sort of light you’re shooting in affects things.

Using Auto White Balance is the simple option, but your camera’s

White Balance gives you more control over colour.

Rule of thirds

The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line,

or allowing linear features in the image to flow from section to section.

Examples of Rule of thirds

This is the original image, which I haven't applied the rule of thirds too, so no important parts of the image are aliened with the intersecting lines.

On this image I have aliened her eye with the intersecting lines to create a more interesting and precise image.