Do You Know Your Photography Jargon?

(Part 1)

In any field of art or science, there's a lot of jargon that's flung around, and seeing as photography is both, it means even more jargon. So you shouldn't feel put off if you don't know all the technical terms other photographers use. Some of these terms you

probably already know, but to fill you in on a few that you may not know, here's a list of some of the most common words you'll come across. Stop down Refers to changing the aperture by increasing the f-number so that the aperture opening becomes smaller. It is often recommended to stop down when you need a larger depth-of-field or if you're shooting wide open and want your photo to be sharper. Most lenses are sharpest when stopped down a few times from their maximum aperture. Full-frame, Crop-frame The sensor of a full-frame digital camera is the same size as what is captured with a 35mm film camera. A crop-frame camera is anything smaller than a full-frame. The most common cropped cameras are 1.5 or 1.6 times smaller than a full-frame.

Backlight Strong light source coming from behind your subject. Backlighting is often tricky to deal with compared to other lighting conditions, however, it is also commonly used in adjacent with other lights in commercial photography.

Candid An unposed photograph. A candid photo is one where the subject is acting naturally and does not seem to be aware of the photographer. Hard Light, Soft Light Strong, direct light is referred to as hard light whereas diffused light is called soft light. For instance, the sun on a clear day would be a hard light. On a cloudy day, it would be a soft light.

Exposure Compensation A control on some cameras that lets you under- or overexpose the correct exposure settings set automatically by the camera. Can be very handy for when a camera generally properly exposes a scene but is consistently off by a small amount. Fill Flash Flash used to fill in the shadows on a subject. These shadows may be natural or caused by another flash. A fill flash does not always eliminate shadows, but fills them in to reduce contrast. Noise A random array of off-color pixels that can vary in brightness also. Noise is generally created by using high ISO settings and is worse with small sensor cameras. It is an unwanted effect that can be improved with in-camera noise reduction or software, but often makes the image softer.

Pre-focusing The act of focusing on the point where you know your subject will be. Pre-focusing is used for photographing fast-moving subjects and reducing shutter lag time by avoiding waiting for the camera to focus when the subject enters the frame. Chromatic Aberration A type of distortion that arises when the colors of an image do not align properly. Some poor-quality lenses show chromatic aberration on the edges of the frame resulting in a fringe of colors that appears blurry. There are other forms of aberration, but this is the most common. Ambient Light Any light that is not artificial. The term ambient light is often used in conjunction with artificial lighting since it is important to balance out the natural and unnatural light in a scene.

Image Artifact Noticeable flaws in a photograph that arise from image degradation. This commonly happens when the image in saved multiple times in a compressed image format such as a jpeg. Bulb A setting on cameras that lets you open the shutter for as long as the shutter button is held. Used for long exposures, often at night. Back-focusing, Front-focusing A tendency of a lens to consistently focus slightly in front of or behind a subject when properly focused. This is an unwanted flaw that may be able to be fixed with the camera's settings or may need to be fixed by the manufacturer. Bokeh

Out of focus points of light. Most easily seen when a camera is shot with a wide aperture and shallow depth-of-field. The shape of the bokeh is determined by the shape of the aperture. Bounce Flash Any artificial light that is reflected off of a surface and back onto the subject. Bounce flash can provide a much softer and more wide-spread light than the original source.

Do You Know Your Photography Jargon? (Part 2)

To see how well you know the lingo of photographers, here's part two of Do You Know Your Photography Jargon. (If you missed Part one click HERE) Bracketing A method of taking multiple shots at slightly different exposure settings. Used in the film days to get the right exposure in tricky lighting situations. Can be used today in the same way and also for HDR processing in post-production. Buffer

The memory bank in a camera that stores photos before they are written onto the removable memory device. Having a large buffer means being able to shoot lots of photos in quick succession without any loss of speed. Cable Release A device used to take long exposures by remotely pressing the shutter button. This allows the photographer set the camera on Bulb and avoid holding onto the shutter button the whole time which would most likely result in camera shake. Canon Rebel T4i | Nikon D7100 | Nikon D800 | Canon 5D Mark III | Nikon D5200 | Sony a7R Circle of Confusion Technically, an unfocused point of light that appears as a circle. This does not necessarily mean that this spot will look out-of-focus. The circle of confusion may be so small that it appears to be sharp.

Barrel and Pincushion Distortion A distortion of the lens caused by imperfect manufacturing of the glass elements. Barrel and pincushion distortions create a convex and concave appearance across the photo,

respectively. The effects are usually unnoticeable unless shooting a subject with several parallel lines. These distortions can be corrected by some cameras and postprocessing software. EXIF Data A set of information generated by the camera that attaches to the photo. It is a record of the various values of the photo (resolution, bit-depth, focal length, aperture, shutter speed, etc.) as well as information pertaining to the manufacturer and model of the camera. Guide Number A number referring to the power of a flash obtained by multiplying the distance of the subject by the f-number for a specified speed of film or sensor sensitivity. The higher the guide number, the more powerful the flash. HDR (High Dynamic Range) A process that can be done in-camera or in post-processing that extends the dynamic range (difference between light and dark areas) by taking multiple photos at different exposure levels. HDR imaging can create a photo that looks closer to the human eye in terms of the light and dark areas.

Hyperfocal Distance The point nearest to the camera which is regarded as acceptably sharp when the lens is focused at infinity. When the lens is focused at the hyperfocal point, the depth-of-field extends from infinity to a distance halfway between the camera and the hyperfocal point. Panning A method used for moving subjects. Involves moving the camera with the subject so that the subject stays relatively in the same spot of the frame while moving. Used to create a sharper image of the subject. Parallax Error An error that occurs when the image seen through the viewfinder and the resulting captured image do not match up. Occurs in camera where the viewfinder is not throughthe-lens such as rangefinders and TLR cameras. Usually only noticeable when photographing subjects close-up. RAW file An unprocessed and uncompressed file created by a camera. Usually takes special software to view and edit on a computer. Gives more latitude for editing.

Recycle Time The times it takes for a camera flash to charge before it's ready to be fired again. A flash system where one flash or device (the master) can control another flash (the slave). A master can control a slave, but not the other way around. Not all flashes are made to be masters or slaves. Tilt and Shift The act of altering the focal plane of a camera by moving the bellows of large format cameras or the angle and position of a lens with modern TS lenses. Vignetting An effect that creates darker edges around a photograph. This can be caused by poor lens design, an incompatible lens hood, stacking too many filters, or by post-processing software. Though originally an unintended an undesired effect, it is used by many today for its aesthetics.