1. Unit 57: Photography and Photographic Practice Terminology (P1, P2, M1, M2)
Term Explanation of term e.g. Examples
what it is used for / the
effect it has on your
images
Shutter Speed Shutter speed is how fast the
lens on the camera takes the
picture, it affects the outcome
of the picture. Shutter speed is
often used for pictures of
traffic at night, it makes it look
like the lights from the cars is
stretching.
ISO Measures the sensitivity of the
image sensor. The lower the
number, the less sensitive the
camera is to light the finer the
picture will be.

2. Aperture & Depth Aperture is the hole in the lens
of field (F stop) that controls how much light is
allowed to reach the sensor.
This can be changed on the
camera to change how much
light there is in a photo, it is
controlled by “f-stops”, the
large the number, the smaller
the hole and amount of light.
For example f/8 means the
hole is small and only allows a
bit of light in where as an f/2
makes the hole bigger and
allows more light in. Depth of
field means how much of the
image is in sharp focus and
which parts are not. The wider
the aperture (the lower the f-
stop number) the more light
that is let in and the shallower
the depth of field is. It is used
for making a certain part of a
photograph stand out and
certain parts of the photo
blurred out.

3. Automatic Exposure Automatic exposure is a
feature on a camera that will
automatically determine the
correct exposure for photos
without you having to do
anything except choose the
automatic exposure option. It
will make the camera make
decisions for you such as the
aperture setting, the shutter
speed, white balance and
ISO.
Manual Exposure Manual exposure is basically
just the opposite of automatic
exposure, you make all the
decisions yourself and change
all the settings like the
aperture and shutter speeds.
It allows you to have
complete control over
everything in your picture
which can make for a better
photo than one taken using
automatic exposure.

4. Colour Balance Colour balance is the
adjustment of intensity in
colours, mainly primary
colours (red, green and blue).
The aim is to render specific
colours mainly neutral colours,
sometimes called grey
balance, neutral balance or
white balance. It changes the
mixture of colours in an image
and is used for colour
correction.
The left half shows the photo as it
came from the digital camera. The right half shows the photo adjusted to make a
gray surface neutral in the same light.
Composition Basically everything that’s
going to be in the
photograph. The way
everything in the photo is laid
out and everything is set up
for the photo. Things on here
such as rule of thirds must be
taken into account when
thinking about composition to
make a good composition for
a photograph.

5. Rule of thirds Rule of thirds is a guideline
which applies to photography
but also to paintings and
other forms of visual images. It
means that images should be
divided into nine equal parts
by two horizontal and two
vertical lines. Important
compositional elements
should be placed along these
lines. It usually involves placing
the horizon of the image on
the top line. It is meant to
make the image look slightly
An image with (left) and without (right)
neater and to stop certain rule of thirds applied.
things from being placed
directly and the centre and
dividing the photo in half.
Complementary When a certain colour is used
Colours alongside another colour in a
photo, one colour may make
the other one stand out more
and complement it. Colours
that are opposite each other
on the wheel to the right, the
colours opposite each other
are complementary colours to
each other.

6. Analogous colours Analogous colours are when
colours next to each other on
the colour wheel are used. It
creates a more soothing look
to a photograph. Instead of
creating contrast like
complementary colours do, it
creates less contrast and just
gives a smoother look to
photographs.
Macro Macro photography is
extreme close up
photography. It is used mainly
to take pictures of very small
objects and is used to make
them look bigger than life size.
An example of macro photography, it has been used
to make this fly appear larger than life size.