1. Unit 57: Photography and Photographic Practice Terminology (P1, P2, M1, M2)
Term Explanation of term e.g. what it is used
for / the effect it has on your images
Examples
Shutter Speed In photography and digital photography the
shutter speed is the unit of measurement
which determines how long shutter remains
open as the picture is taken. The slower the
shutter speed, the longer the exposure time.
The shutter speed and aperture together
control the total amount of light reaching
the sensor. Shutter speeds are expressed in
seconds or fractions of a second. For
example 2, 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60,
1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000,
1/4000, 1/8000. Each speed increment
halves the amount of light.
ISO In Digital Photography ISO measures the
sensitivity of the image sensor. The same
principles apply as in film photography – the
lower the number the less sensitive your
camera is to light and the finer the grain.
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)
– however the cost is noisier shots. I’ll
illustrate this below with two enlargements
of shots that I just took – the one on the left
is taken at 100 ISO and the one of the right
at 3200 ISO (click to enlarge to see the full
effect).

2. Aperture & Depth of
field (F stop)
The depth of field does not abruptly
change from sharp to unsharp, but
instead occurs as a gradual transition. In
fact, everything immediately in front of
or in back of the focusing distance
begins to lose sharpness — even if this
is not perceived by our eyes or by the
resolution of the camera.
Aperture is referred to the lens
diaphragm opening inside a
photographic lens. The size of the
diaphragm opening in a camera lens
REGULATES amount of light passes
through onto the film inside the camera
the moment when the shutter curtain in
camera opens during an exposure
process. The size of an aperture in a lens
can either be a fixed or the most
popular form in an adjustable type (like
an SLR camera). Aperture size is usually
calibrated in f-numbers or f-stops.
Automatic Exposure Automatic exposure is an automated
digital camera system that sets the
aperture and/or shutter speed, based
on the external lighting conditions for
the photo. With beginner-level digital
cameras, photographers usually can
select one of three different AE modes.
Aperture priority allows the
photographer to set the aperture value,
and the digital camera then determines
the shutter speed. This is called a semi-
automatic exposure. Shutter priority

3. allows the photographer to set the
shutter speed, and the digital camera
then determines the aperture setting.
This also is called a semi-automatic
exposure. Program mode is a fully
automatic mode, where the camera sets
shutter speed and aperture. This mode
sometimes is called Program AE.

4. Manual Exposure This is the cool kid’s manual setting, as it gives you
100% control of all three functions, shutter speed,
aperture and ISO. There are no set rules with how
you adjust these settings, but here’s how I do it.
First, I set the ISO. Typically, you can set your ISO
and leave it for an entire shoot. Unless there’s a
dramatic change in the available light, (you go
inside, or step outside) you can set it and forget it.
Like I said earlier, you typically want your ISO as
low as possible. If you’re outside in the sun,
there’s no reason to go above the lowest setting.
This will keep the noise to a minimum within your
shots.
This leaves shutter speed and aperture for you to
adjust from shot to shot. Typically I set these two
in a somewhat middle of the road position just so
the shot is exposed properly. I then set either my
aperture or shutter speed to where I want it and
adjust back the other to maintain proper
exposure.
How I determine shutter speed and aperture
depend on what I’m shooting, and what I want to
get out of the shot. If I’m shooting a waterfall, Ill
wants a longer shutter speed to smooth out the
falling water, so Ill compensate by decreasing the
aperture. If I’m shooting a football game, Ill wants
to freeze the action. I can do this by opening the
aperture as wide as possible, and decreasing the
shutter speed as low as I can.
Now, if you don’t want to take the complete
plunge to full manual, most cameras come with
two other partial manual modes, which allow you
to adjust two of the three settings, and the
camera will automatically determine the optimum
setting for the third depending on the light. While
these work, it still requires the camera guess what
you want out of your image, and it may not result
in the exact exposure you’re looking for.

5. Colour Balance Getting the color right can be the most difficult
part of photo editing but a little knowledge of how
the colors are made will make this much easier.
On the right we have a color wheel' to help
illustrate the concepts that you need to grasp.
All colors are made from three primary colors -
red, blue and green. Forget what you learned in
Art at school we are now dealing with light not
pigments.
Where the three colors overlap in the middle of
the color wheel we get a neutral gray (somewhere
between black and white depending on the
intensity of the colors). I have faked it here slightly
for the purpose of illustration.
Where two of the colors overlap they form other
colors known as 'subtractive primary colors
Another way of looking at it is that if you remove
one color from the middle of the wheel you will
get a new color For example, if you remove red
from gray you will be left with a mixture of blue
and green, this color is called 'cyan'. If you remove
or subtract green from neutral gray you are left
with a mixture of red and blue known as
'magenta'. Red and green combine to make the
third 'subtractive primary color - yellow.
Knowledge of these six colors and how they relate
to each other will enable you to correct any color
cast in a picture.

6. Composition
Image composition describes how different
subjects and visual elements are arranged inside
of the image frame. The purpose of image
composition is to create a visually compelling
picture, a picture that evokes the interest of the
viewer. A successful shot attracts the eye for a
while. Visual elements that a photographer uses in
the composition are for example lines, forms,
textures, balance, symmetry, depth, colours,
perspective, scale, and lighting. A picture can tell a
thousand words but how to create such a photo?

7. Rule of thirds The Rule of Thirds means that the frame
can be divided into three horizontal
sections and three vertical sections and
therefore, where the horizontal and
vertical lines intersect makes an ideal
location for the more important parts of
your picture. Using the rule of thirds
doesn’t mean you have to put the point
of interest on the right hand side and
the bottom of the image.

8. Complementary
Colours
Complementary Colours are those
which are opposite to each other on the
colour wheel. Complements are red and
green, blue and orange, or yellow and
violet.
Complementary colours neutralize each
other when mixed together in equal
amounts - making a neutral grey. When
a small amount of one colour is mixed
into its complement, the resulting
colour is a less intense, more pleasing
version of that colour.
Analogous colours
Analogous colors are colors that are
adjacent or next to one another on a
color wheel. An analogous color scheme
is one in which only three adjacent
colors are used. The theory is that colors
work well or harmonize together.
Usually one of these colors is dominant
or used more than the other two, in the
painting.

9. Macro Macro photography (or
photomacrograph or macrography, and
sometimes macrophotograph) is
extreme close-up photography, usually
of very small subjects, in which the size
of the subject in the photograph is
greater than life size (though
macrophotography technically refers to
the art of making very large
photographs) By some definitions, a
macro photograph is one in which the
size of the subject on the negative or
image sensor is life size or greater.
However in other uses it refers to a
finished photograph of a subject at
greater than life size

10. Macro Macro photography (or
photomacrograph or macrography, and
sometimes macrophotograph) is
extreme close-up photography, usually
of very small subjects, in which the size
of the subject in the photograph is
greater than life size (though
macrophotography technically refers to
the art of making very large
photographs) By some definitions, a
macro photograph is one in which the
size of the subject on the negative or
image sensor is life size or greater.
However in other uses it refers to a
finished photograph of a subject at
greater than life size