Shutter speed determines how long the camera's shutter is open when taking a photo, affecting how motion is captured. ISO measures the camera's sensitivity to light, with lower numbers producing higher quality in bright conditions and higher numbers needed for darker scenes. Aperture and depth of field refer to the size of the opening through which light enters the camera, affecting the area of the photo that is in focus. Macro photography captures objects at life-size or larger magnification for close-up detail.

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 Shutter speed is basically how fast a
camera can take a picture. It is
effectively the length of time of
exposure before the lens shuts.
Examples of the uses of shutter speed
are things like using slow shutter
speeds to capture pictures of cars
where the light stretches along the
photo. An example of fast shutter
speeds is the picture of a bubble
popping and the picture is taken
before the whole bubble is burst.
ISO ISO is the measuring of quality
contrasted with the amount of light in
the background. The lower the
number of ISO the less sensitive the
camera is to light therefore the higher
the quality in a well-lit area. In a dark
place a higher ISO produces a finer
picture as shown on the picture.
Aperture & Depth of
field (F stop)
Depth of field is the difference
between a well-focused landscape
shot and a shot of a flower with the
background blurred out. A sharp
picture would be referred to as having
lots of depth of field, whereas one
where the foreground or background
is out of focus would be said to have
limited depth of field. The main

2. controlling factor of depth of field is
the aperture; which is essentially the
size of the gap that light can get
through into the picture, the rule goes,
the smaller the aperture the more
depth of field in the picture.
Automatic Exposure
Automatic exposure is the cameras
way of creating a few settings for the
aperture and shutter speed that
automatically set to a different
amount of exposure
Manual Exposure Manual exposure is when the
photographer chooses the settings on
the shutter speed and the aperture to
maintain a very specific amount of
exposure. This can be harder to do but
can show better results than
automatic.

3. Colour Balance Colour balance is an effect that can
be placed onto still images to lessen
or strengthen certain colours in the
image to give the picture a different
look altogether.
Composition Composition is essentially the
placement of the elements of a
picture, how they are arranged in
order to give the photo a specific
look.
Rule of thirds The rule of thirds is a simple concept
involving The picture being split into
thirds both horizontally and vertically
when the picture is taken, the
important elements should be shown
where the thirds meet. This is to make
the picture look more interesting, full
and give the shot a good
composition.

4. Complementary
Colours
The complementary colours rule
applies to more then just
photography, And is merely a style of
photograph that can be chosen, not
the strict method of capturing a good
picture. The rule simply suggests that
throughout the colour scale each
colour has a different hue, almost the
strength of the colour, each colour
with the same hue would be
complimentary, for example Red and
green on the colour scale shown here.
Analogous colours Similar to Complimentary, the
analogous colour rule is a method of
photography that is best used with
certain colours not all the time. The
rule refers to certain colours that
match, rather than being the same,
one being the dominant colour
(usually a primary or secondary
colour) over the other colour.

5. Macro Macro Photography is essentially
extreme close up photography. The
term refers to when the image
captured on the photo is either life-size
or greater than the object itself.
Macro photography is usually used on
small objects to obtain a closer and
more detailed look. There is also
usually a specific mode on up to date
cameras specifically for
macrophotography, such as macro
focus.

6. Macro Macro Photography is essentially
extreme close up photography. The
term refers to when the image
captured on the photo is either life-size
or greater than the object itself.
Macro photography is usually used on
small objects to obtain a closer and
more detailed look. There is also
usually a specific mode on up to date
cameras specifically for
macrophotography, such as macro
focus.