Photography Terminology

 

Please excuse my makeup-free face since this is not a makeup post, but I hope you like the Hello Kitty frames ^_^ 

After I have gotten my DSLR camera, I started reading more about photography and I've come across a few "technical" terms that I was not familiar with. These are terms you should get familiar with if you are into photography.

AF - auto focus. The lens will automatically focus on the subject.

Aperture - the opening of the lens that allows the light to come through. It is measured in "f" numbers. The smaller the "f" number the wider the opening.

Bokeh - out of focused blurred areas.

Crop sensor camera - a camera with a smaller sensor.

Chromatic aberration - also known as "purple fringing", color distortion caused by the lens inability to bring the various colors to the same focus point. You can see an example HERE.

Depth of field - the areas that are in focus.

DSLR - digital single lens reflex

Exposure - the amount of light that the camera sensor captures.

Focal length - the distance between the lens and the camera's sensor.

Full frame camera - a camera with a larger sensor. They offer better image quality, are better for shooting wide angle, and are more expensive. This is a really good post that will explain the difference between a crop sensor camera and a full frame camera. Click HERE to read.

Glass - another term for lens

JPEG - a format for compressing images.

IS - image stability. A feature in a lens that reduces motion blur. 

ISO - camera's sensor sensitivity to light.

Macro - close up photography.

Noise - the graininess in an image, usually caused by a high ISO setting.

Prime lens - a lens with a fixed focal length. They offer the best imagine quality and are usually faster. The only disadvantage is that you will have to physically move closer or further in order to get the the shot you want.

Raw image - actual data captured by the camera's sensor. They are also considered as the "image negatives". Because they have not been processed by the camera, the files are much larger. Raw files also come out much nicer after editing.

Shutter speed - the length of time that the shutter remains open

Vignetting - darkening on the outer edges of an image.

Zoom lens - lens with a variable focal length.