Lauren Mawer

Photographic Terminology

Unit 57: Photography and Photographic Practice TerminologyP1, P2, M1, M2

Shutter speed is measured in seconds. The bigger the denominator, the faster the speed. For example, 1/1000 is a lot faster than 1/30. Usually, people use shutter speeds of 1/60th or more because if it is any slower it can get difficult to use without getting camera shake, which means photos will end up blurry. In order to prevent this, you will have to use a tripod if you are going to use a slower shutter speed. Shutter speeds usually double, such as 1/125, 1/250, 1/500.

Shutter Speed

Fast Shutter Speed Slow Shutter Speed

Shutter Speed

The shutter speed for this photo is 1/400. The shutter speed for this photo is 1/10.

ISO settings measure the sensitivity of the image. The lower the number, the less sensitive your camera is to light. Higher ISO settings are generally used in darker situations to get faster shutter speeds. For example, an indoor sports event when you want to freeze the action in lower light. A common ISO setting for this is 400, but if it is outside and sunny, a common ISO setting for this would be 100.

ISO

The ISO for this photo is 400.

High ISO Low ISO

The ISO for this photo is 100.The ISO for this photo is 3200.

ISO

Aperture is measured in f-stops, such as f/8, f/11, f/22 etc. Moving from one f-stop to another, doubles or halves the size of the opening in your lens, which determines the amount of light that gets through. The change of the shutter speed also contributes to this. If you increase one and decrease the other, you end up letting in the same amount of light.

Depth of field is the amount of your shot that will be in focus. If there is a large depth of field, it will mean that the majority of your image will be in focus. A shallow depth of field means that only a certain part of the image will be in focus and the rest will be blurry.

Aperture impacts upon depth of field. Larger aperture will decrease depth of field, but small aperture will increase depth of field.

Aperture & Depth of Field

The f-stop for this photo is f/5.6

Wide Depth of Field

Aperture & Depth of Field

Narrow Depth of Field

The f stop for this photo is f/2. The f stop for this photo is f/4.

The f stop for this photo is 6.3.

White balance helps neutralise any cast created by the light source, so that all the colours appear as you saw them. White balance is also associated with colour temperature. A light which has a higher colour temperature will have a more of a blue light. Each source of light possesses a different colour temperature.

In the first image, you can see that the white balance of the photo is quite cold compared to the third image where the white balance appears to be warm. The third image is really bright and luminous and doesn’t really suit the setting. The second image looks quite balanced, although you can see there is a tint of a warmer colour. Finally, in the first image, you can see a blue-ish tint in the photo, making the image appear cold.

White BalanceThe white balance setting for this image is Incandescent.

The white balance setting for this image is Fluorescent.

The white balance setting for this image is Cloudy.

Rule of thirds is breaking an image down into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, so you end up with 9 sections. As an image is being taken, this would be done in your mind through the viewfinder or in LCD display that you would use to frame your shot. The rule of thirds identifies four different parts of the image that you should consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image. It also gives you four lines that are also useful positions for elements in your photo. The reason that points of interest are used is because it makes your photo become more balanced.

Rule of thirds

In this image, the rabbit is on the left side. The focal point of this image could be the rabbits ear.

Examples of Rule of thirds

Analogous colour schemes use colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel. This is because they match well. They are often found in nature and look harmonious.

In this image there are different shades of green and if you look closely, you can see shades of a dark yellow, possibly because of the way the light has reflected on the leaves and plants. As shown on the colour wheel, yellow and green are next to each other. The circled areas are where shades of yellow look to be in the picture.

Analogous colours 

Complementary colours are colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel. As shown on this colour wheel, the complementary colours are red and green. The high contrast creates a vibrant look, but it must be managed well so it is not jarring. They can be tricky to use in large does, but work well when you want something to be more prominent and stand out.

In this image, the colours are pink and green. If you look at the arrow on the colour wheel, you can see that pink and green are opposite each other, therefore are complementary colours.

Complementary Colours