Aperture - adjustable opening of the lens that determines how much light passes through lens on its way to the sensor.
Aspect Ratio - refers to the shape or format of the image produced by a camera. A DSLR has the 3:2 ratio.
Blown Out - refers to the overexposed highlights in the photograph; these brightest parts are rendered as white
Bokeh - refers to the out of focus areas in a photograph; aka "circles of confusion"; see header image
Camera Shake - occurs when the camera is moved during exposure, resulting in a blurry image
Chromatic Aberration - occurs when the collective color wavelengths of an image fail to focus on a common plane.
Composition - the pleasing and artistic arrangement of subjects in a photograph
Critique - the process of evaluating and interpreting the elements of a photograph in order to determine its meaning and effectiveness.
Cropped Sensor Camera - We have cropped sensor DSLRs in class, they are smaller and cheaper than their full frame counterparts at 1.5x smaller.
Depth of Field - how much of the image is in focus (depicting distance)
DSLR - Digital Single Lens Reflex (What we have in the classroom)
Exposure- is the amount of light that enters the camera and hits the sensor.
Exposure Triangle - is a common way of associating the three variable that determine the exposure of a photograph: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO
f/stop - Aperture is measured by this unit
File Format- how the camera will record in the image or image file; commonly JPEG or RAW
Focal Length - the distance from the lens to the film plane or sensor
Focal Point - the part of the image that the photographer wants the viewer to look at, often the main subject.
Focus - the part(s) of your image that appear sharp are referred to as "in focus".
Full Frame Camera - Full frame sensors are 35mm diagonally and are called so because they're the same size as an old 35mm film frame. The larger sensor means that the pixels are larger and can handle higher ISO values better.
Golden Hour - refers to the hour after sunrise or the hour just before sunset
HDR- High Dynamic Range - technique used when the dynamic range of a scene is too great for your camera to handle in a single shot.
Histogram - a graph or a chart that displays the tonal values of your image
Hot Shoe - the slot on the top of your camera to fit accessories
ISO - the sensitivity of your camera sensor (or film) to light
JPEG- the standard image for most cameras. Pros: Smaller image size. Con: compression means a lot of the original data is lost.
Leading lines- technique used in creating interesting compositions - where lines in the photograph "point" to subject
Lens Flare - created when a strong light source hits the front element of the lens directly.
Lens Speed - The widest aperture possible: Fast lens - has a large opening - better in low lighting situations (ability to get a faster shutter speed)
Light Meter - a device that measures the amount of light in a scene... your camera has one built in!
Lightroom - highly popular image editing suite developed by Adobe... used to organize images and conduct post edits
Long Exposure- technique where the shutter is left open for an extended period... used for blurring motion
Macro - genre where you photograph very small things or small parts of a bigger object
Manual Mode - allows you to have full control over the camera settings
Metering - the light meter inside the camera helps to determine the correct exposure settings by recording the available light
Motion Blur - The blur that is captured in an image provided by slow shutter speeds
Noise (grain) - displays as little specks on the final image, degrading the overall quality. Using a high ISO setting introduces noise, sometimes enough to ruin the image.
Photoshop - Another popular editing suite developed by Adobe. More powerful than Lightroom with a much steeper learning curve. Most photographers use the two in conjunction.
Prime Lens - A lens with a fixed focal length, meaning you can't zoom in or out. These are often with better quality and wider apertures.
Post-Processing - alternative term used for editing an image in software after it was taken.
RAW - Most DSLR's have the capability to capture RAW images. This retains all of the data that the imaging sensor captured (without any compression)
Resolution - Refers to the amount of pixels that a camera has, expressed in megapixels.
Rule of Thirds - compositional rule suggests the image has been divided into three parts both horizontally and vertically
Sensitivity - The sensitivity of the film/sensor allows you to shoot with faster shutter speeds in low light situations, or “darker” for brightly lit situations
Shutter -The mechanism that opens and closes just in front of the film or sensor to allow light to reach it.
Shutter Speed - the amount of time that the sensor collects light
Sharp - describes the a part of or a whole image that is clearly defined and in focus
Single Lens Reflex - a single reflex camera has a single lens that forms an image which is reflected to the viewfinder
Soft - similar but the opposite of "bokeh". This refers to the parts of an image that out of focus.
SOOC - straight out of camera
Stopping Down - related to f/stops, the act of "stopping down" refers to making the aperture narrower (higher f/stop number) in order to increase depth of field
Stops - the exposure of an image is measured in stops of light
Time - How shutter speed is measured: Fractions of a second
Viewfinder - The window you put your eye to when taking a photograph
White Balance - Light has many different colors depending on it's source, and while our eyes adjust to this naturally, the camera does not. While balance is a way of compensating for that, and the wrong white balance can result in images that looks very different from reality. The settings are usually named after the light source they are appropriate for
Wide Angle Lens - opposite of telephoto lenses, wide angle lenses have a short focal length, anything smaller than 30mm
Wide Open - term used to describe an image taken with the widest aperture available to you. (f/1.8 in class)
Zoom Lens - A lens that you can zoom in and out due to a variable focal length. Kit lens on the DSLR's is a zoom lens.