A Photographers Dictionary.

If you are somebody just starting your photographic adventure then as you worked your way through the sloppily written text on this site then you have probably come across the odd word that you don't understand, if you know the meanings of words like aperture, exposure, raw, depth of field, dynamic range etc but would like to learn more about how they affect your photography, or if you are just a sucker for punishment then keep reading because I intend to explain some of the technical terms used by photographers.

Aperture: This is just the size of the opening in the lens that light can pass through, the larger the aperture the more light can pass through but the narrower your depth of field will be.

F-number: This is the number used to represent certain apertures, the smaller the F:number the larger the aperture.

Stop: 1 stop of light is half or double, so making an image 1 stop brighter would make it twice as bright and vice versa.

Focal Length: This is essentially a measure of how zoomed in the lens is (this is a massive simplification but I really can't be bothered to fully describe it and it doesn't affect your photography). A 50mm lens is described as standard, any more is more zoomed in, any less will be more wide angle. A wider focal length also results in a larger depth of field.

Shutter Speed: This is how long the shutter is open, so how long the sensor is exposed to light. A longer shutter speed, a brighter picture and vice versa.

ISO: This is the sensitivity of the sensor, a higher ISO means a brighter picture but it also introduces more noise.

Exposure: This is the overall brightness and is a combination of shutter speed, aperture and ISO.

Noise: This often shows up as funny coloured specks in the darker section of the frame when the ISO is too high or you brighten an underexposed image.

Histogram: This is the graph you get in a photo editing software or on the back of your camera that shows you how much highlights, shadows and mid-tones you have in your image.

RAW: This is an uncompressed format for storing your photos that means you don't lose any of the information that your camera recorded like colours, highlights and shadows. You can still change the white balance and exposure in post processing in Raw.

JPEG: This is the compressed format that most cameras will have as standard, it is a smaller file than RAW but it does not allow for as much editing in post production.

Depth Of Field: This is the part of the image that is in focus, a shallow depth of field means only a small section of the image will be in focus whereas a large depth of field might mean the whole frame is in focus. The closer you are to the focus point the narrower the depth of field becomes. You can use a narrow depth of field to blur the background and remove distractions from the background.

Dynamic Range: This is the difference between the brightest the sensor can record and the darkest while still retaining detail. HDR or High Dynamic Range is a style of photography that has become increasingly popular in recent years, it is achieved by combining multiple exposure each set to correctly expose a different section of the frame so that you retain all the detail in the frame. Dynamic range tends to decrease at higher ISO and on smaller sensors.

Full Frame: A full frame camera is one with a 35mm sensor, this is also the size of sensor that the focal lengths are based on.

Cropped Sensor:These are cameras with a smaller sensor that tend to cost less, be it canons which are 1.6x smaller than full frame, or everyone else's which are 1.5x smaller than full frame. These cropped sensors result in a longer focal length so a 50mm lens is effectively 75mm on a cropped sensor camera. They also tend to have lower dynamic range and are more prone to noise at higher ISOs.

So I think that will pretty much do for the basics, when I think of more I will add them. If you see a word you don't know the meaning of or you just have a question and for some reason you think I am more likely to have the answer than google, then feel free to Email me at kitsidlowphotography@gmail.com