Photography

DOF

DOF, which stands for Depth of Field, is the distance between the closest and farthest object within the focused zone of an image. It is determined by focal distance, aperture, and distance to the subject. The higher these numbers are, the more shallow the DOF will be.

Histogram

Histogram is the visual representation of the luminance of an image. The left side of the graph represent the shadows, while the right side belongs to the highlights. The height of the histogram shows how many pixels there are for each specific luminance level.

Hyperfocal

Hyperfocal is the distance at which the focus point provides a deeper depth of field. It is often used by landscape photographers to ensure their scenes are as sharp as possible.

Aperture

Aperture is the opening through which light passes through the lens to enter the camera. Its size can be modified to control how much light reaches the sensor or negative film. The diameter of the aperture, also known as the F-stop, affects the exposure and depth of field.

Exposure

Exposure is the amount of light that reaches the camera sensor and it determines how light or dark an image is. The exposure of an image is determined by the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

Candid

A candid is a portrait taken while the subject is not posing. This can be achieved either by capturing a subject unaware of the photographer's presence or by introducing motion and surprising the model during a photoshoot. This kind of portrait photography is highly popular in street photography and is becoming more relevant in formal environments such as weddings.

Composite

A composite is a picture created by combining multiple images into a single one. The most common uses of this practice include removing unwanted elements, creating surreal images, and generating time-lapse style compositions. To create a composite photo, photographers usually layer the images one on top of the another and mask out the undesirable parts.

Aspect ratio

Aspect ratio defines the relationship between an image's lengths, represented as width:height. It is predetermined by the dimensions of the camera's sensor, but can be altered in post processing. The most common aspect ratios are 3:2 (full-frame, mirrorless, 35mm film) and 4:3 (most DSLRs). Recently, 4:5 has gained popularity due to Instagram's vertical cropping.

Blue hour

Blue hour is the short period of time before sunrise or after sunset when the sun is just below the horizon. Indirect sunlight is evenly diffused and takes on a blue shade. The duration on the blue hour varies depending on the location, but generally lasts less than an hour.

Bokeh

Bokeh is an optical phenomenon that makes bright out-of-focus elements aesthetically pleasing. Using a fast lens at its wider aperture turns a busy background into a blurred, homogenic canvas where light appears as soft shapes. The form of these points of lights is determined by the number of blades in the diaphragm - the higher the number, the more circular these elements will appear.

Bracketing

Bracketing is the action of capturing the same shot using different exposure values to make sure the whole scene is exposed properly. Bracketing can be done manually or using the auto exposure bracketing (AEB) function. In most cameras, AEB allows photographers to select the exposure compensation for the additional shots, which are taken automatically as you press the shutter release. For most compositions, a 1/3 exposure compensation is the way to go.

Bulb

Bulb is a camera setting that holds the shutter open for as long as the shutter release button is pressed. In some cases, the shutter release needs to be pressed once to open the shutter and once to close it, rather than remaining pushed down. This mode allows photographers to capture longer exposures than the ones offered by the camera (usually up to 30").

Burst rate

Burst rate is the number of consecutive shots a camera can take in continuous shooting mode. When using this mode, images are stored in a high-speed buffer memory before being transferred to the memory card. Once the buffer is full, the camera will reduce the FPS to give it enough time to free space. Burst rate can be affected by image formats, as it depends on the file size, as well as by the speed of the memory card used.

Chimping

Chimping means to constantly check the camera display after every single shot. The term comes from the similarity between the "oooh, oooh!" sounds photographers take to make while chimping and the sound of a chimpanzee. This action is commonly seen as a major amateur mistake as many shot opportunities can be lost while overchecking each image.

Chromatic aberration

Chromatic aberration is a common optical problem in lenses where colors are not focused on the same convergence point in the focal plane. As a result, the image shows fringes of different wavelength colors around the edges where bright and dark sections meet. In black and white photography, chromatic aberration results in significant blur in the picture.

Composition

Composition is the manner in which elements are positioned within a photo. It is considered one of the most important components of an image, as it allows the photographer to guide the viewer's eye across the image towards the main subject. There are numerous photography composition rules that are proven to be successful.

Contrast

Contrast defines the range of tonal difference between the shadows and lights of an image. As the contrast becomes higher it emphasizes these variations, resulting in stronger textures and colors. Pictures with lower contrast may be perceived as dull, as a smaller difference between lights and shadows results in a muted appearance.

Crop factor

Crop factor is the proportion of a camera sensor size to a 35mm film frame or digital full-frame sensor. Different brands work with different crop factors. For example, Canon offers 1.3x (APS-H) and 1.6x (APS-C), while Nikon, Sony, Fuji, and Pentax use a 1.5x ratio (ASP-C). A camera's crop factor determines a lens' effective focal length, which allows photographers to easily understand the field of view they will get in comparison to other bodies.

Diaphragm

Diaphragm is the mechanical device inside a camera lens that controls the aperture. Modern DSLR cameras use what is known as an "iris diaphragm," which is made of overlapping blades that can be modified to increase or decrease the size of the aperture.

Dynamic range

Dynamic range is the range of luminance of an image between its highest and lowest light intensities, usually pure white and pure black. The dynamic range of a digital sensor is slightly narrower than that of film photography, and both of them are significantly limited in comparison to what the human eye can perceive. Scenes with a wider dynamic range than that of the camera sensor will result in images that are either overexposed or underexposed.

EV compensation

EV compensation, or exposure value compensation, allows photographers to modify the exposure on automatic and semi-automatic modes. Generally, the values can be changed through 1/3, 1/3, or full stop increments.

FPS

FPS stands for frames per second and determines the speed at which a camera can take photos. It is especially important for sport and wildlife photographers, who need to be able to shoot rapidly to make sure they capture perfectly-timed images.

Focal length

Focal length is the distance in millimeters between the center of a lens and the camera sensor. It determines the angle of view as well as the magnification of the subject. Focal length is the measure used to categorize the different type of lenses: wide angle (<35mm), standard (35mm - 70mm), medium telephoto (70mm - 135mm) and telephoto (>135mm).

Golden hour

Golden hour, also commonly referred to as 'magic hour,' is the period right before sunset and after sunrise. During this time, the sun is low on the horizon so light takes on a redder shade than when it's higher up in the sky.

HDR

HDR, which stands for high dynamic range, is a technique that gives images a wider dynamic range than the one captured by the camera. The goal of this technique is representing a scene as close as possible to how it was seen by the human eye. HDR images are created by combining multiple photos with different exposure values.