The document discusses various photographic terminology including shutter speed, ISO, aperture, depth of field, white balance, and the rule of thirds. Shutter speed refers to how long the camera shutter is open and affects motion blur and exposure. ISO affects the camera's sensitivity to light. Aperture size affects depth of field and the amount of light entering the lens. The rule of thirds is a compositional technique that imagines dividing the frame into a 3x3 grid.

1. Photographic Terminology
Chloe Kyriacou
Unit 57: Photography and Photographic Practice Terminology
P1, P2, M1, M2

2. Shutter Speed
Shutter speed refers to the amount of time that you’re camera is exposed to the scene or subject you’re capturing; or more simply, the
length of time your shutter is open. If you set the shutter at the wrong speed you run the risk of under or over exposing your image,
therefore it’s an important factor to consider when taking a photo.
Shutter speed is measured in fractions of seconds and usually doubles as you increase the exposure time. Typically anything over a
shutter speed of 1/500 is considered a fast shutter speed, meaning anything below that would be a slow shutter speed.
As mentioned before, shutter speed can effect exposure, therefore it needs to be thought about carefully. If for example you were
trying to capture a landscape on a dark, cloudy day you would use a slower shutter speed as to let more light into the lens, however if it
was a fairly bright and sunny day, you would then use a fast shutter speed as to not over expose the image by allowing too much light
in.
Shutter speed has the ability to both capture and freeze motion. When the exposure time is prolonged it creates motion blur of the
subject or object we’re photographing- as long as they’re moving! However if we were to speed up the shutter speed we would then
be freezing the motion. There’s no rule as to whether you should freeze or capture movement, it’s all dependent on the desired effect
you’re going for.
If you choose to use a shutter speed below 1/60 to give of a sense of movement, a tripod would be needed as to avoid camera shake;
anything higher than that can be taken by hand.
Although shutter speed is an important element when taking a photo, ISO and aperture also need to be considered in conjunction to
this if you’re to capture the perfect photo. If it was a bright sunny day you would use a fast shutter speed, however if you were also
trying to capture motion this setting would not work; this is when you would need to start thinking about the other settings.

3. Shutter Speed
Fast Shutter Speed Slow Shutter Speed
Shutter Speed: 1/3200
F-Stop: f/5.6
ISO: 3200
Shutter Speed: 1/500
F-Stop: f/5.6
ISO: 3200
These images were taken on a fairly cloudy day, therefore the
outcome of the photo taken with a fast shutter speed is that it’s fairly
under-exposed. Whereas the image taken with a slow shutter
speed is a exposed just enough.

4. Shutter Speed: 1/60
F-stop: f/10
ISO: 3200
Shutter Speed: 1/500
F-Stop: f/10
ISO: 3200
A fairly fast shutter speed allowed me to capture the cat before he
moved, whereas in the second image with the help of a slow shutter
speed I was able to capture his head movement. Looking back on these
photos I’ve now realised there fairly under exposed, therefore I should
of used a lower f-stop.

5. Slow Shutter Speed

6. Fast Shutter Speed

7. Iso
ISO is a setting on a digital camera that affects it’s sensitivity to light.
Just like shutter speed, ISO doubles in number as it increases- the higher the number the higher the cameras
sensitivity. Typically on a dslr camera the lowest ISO available is 100 – this is considered to be a normal setting if
you’re aiming to capture crisp photos.
The ISO in which your camera is set at has an affect on the shutter speed and aperture. For example, if you were
to increase your ISO you would find that it becomes possible to shoot at higher shutter speeds or smaller
apertures. Therefore you would generally use a higher ISO in a darker situation so that your camera becomes
more sensitive to light and you’re able to use a higher shutter speed to freeze motion.
An example of this would be if you were trying to take a photo of an artist moving around on stage at night. If
you’re aiming to have no movement, you would need a fast shutter speed, however you then run the risk of
under exposing the image. Therefore you’d need a higher ISO as to make your camera more sensitive to the light.
The downside of increasing the ISO is that your images then start to capture noise and become more grainy.
On most DSLR’s it’s possible to have the ISO set on auto mode, meaning the camera does all the work for you,
however to capture the perfect photo it’s best to have an understanding of the setting so that you can create
your desired effect.

8. ISO
High ISO Low ISO
ISO: 3200
Shutter Speed: 1/500
F-Stop: f/5
ISO: 400
Shutter Speed: 1/500
F-Stop: f/5.6

9. Aperture & Depth of Field
When talking about aperture we’re referring to the opening in the lens; it affects the amount of light that we’re
letting in. The larger the opening the more light we let in, meaning the smaller it is the less light we’re allowing
in.
Aperture is measured in f-stops such as f/2.8, f/4, f/6, f/5.8, f/8, f/11, f/16 and so on. Depending on whether
you’re increasing or decreasing the f-stop, you’re either doubling or halving the size of the opening, therefore
doubling or halving the amount of light you’re letting in.
The larger the opening in the lens and the more light we’re letting in, the smaller the f-stop. The smaller the
opening in the lens and the less light we’re letting in, the bigger the f-stop. A simple way of remembering this is:
Big aperture, small f-stop.
Small aperture, big f-stop.
When changing the f-stop on your camera it will have an affect on the depth of field in your photos. Depth of
field refers to the distance between the nearest and furthest object or subject in a scene.
A large depth of field produces images that are completely in focus, whilst a shallow depth of field means only a
certain part of the image will be in focus and the rest is blurred.
Smaller f-stops will decrease the depth of field producing more shallow images, whilst larger f-stops will create a
large depth of field.

10. Aperture & Depth of Field
Narrow Depth of Field Wide Depth of Field
F-Stop: f/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/500
ISO:3200
F-Stop: f/14
Shutter Speed: 1/400
ISO: 3200

11. White Balance
White balance is a setting on a DSLR camera that can be adjusted to allow you to get the colours in your shots as accurately as possible.
Whereas as our eyes adjust to different lightings so that no matter what we always view things as they should be, a camera doesn’t act this
way. Therefore we need to modify the settings so that it can treat lighting differently and produce images that are true to themselves.
For example, if the lighting was quite cool you’d need to set the white balance so that is warmed the image up, whereas if the lighting was
quite warm you’d need it to cool the image down.
Cameras come with pre-set white balance setting, some of these include:
Auto- the camera will control the white balance.
Tungsten- used for indoor lighting.
Fluorescent- used to warm up your images.
Typically, the pre-set setting allow for accurate photos, however it is possible to manually adjust the white balance. This is done by ‘showing’
your camera what the colour white looks like by taking a picture of white card. This will act as a reference to the camera so that when you go
to take a photo it can decide what certain colours should look like.

12. Rule of thirds
The rule of thirds refers to one of the ‘main’ techniques used when
composing a photograph.
You simply have to imagine the image you’re taking being broken
down into an imaginary three by three grid with four intersecting
points made up of both horizontal and vertical lines. Within the
intersecting points you should be placing what you want to be the
points of interest in the image- when we look at the photo our eyes
should naturally drift to these points, even though they’re not
actually there.
Whilst some DSLR’s allow you to physically set up a grid on your
camera, the rule of third should simply act as a guide that’s
imagined in your mind- it allows the images to appear more visibly
interesting and appealing to the eye.
When taking a photograph it’s natural to want to centre the subject
or object you’re focussing on , however this typically tends to lead
to an unnatural composition- more often than not you’re not using
up all the space within the frame meaning the image will most likely
be displeasing. Whereas by using the rule of thirds as a guide your
using up all the empty space and allowing your photo to appear
more natural. Although we don’t know they’re there, it’s a
tendency for our eyes to drift to the intersecting points.

13. Examples of Rule of thirds
Point of interest is within the
intersecting points.
Although we can’t actually see the grid, our eyes naturally
drift to where the intersecting points would be. This is the
point of interest in the image.

14. Examples of Rule of thirds

15. Manual Exposure
When using manual mode it allows you to have more control over your camera and
you’re able to more easily produce your desired images.
Whereas automatic exposure will adjust the setting for you dependent upon the lighting,
manual exposure allows you to change the shutter speed, aperture and ISO.
When using manual mode you'll need to set the exposure yourself, however your DSLR
will still guide you to the best exposure through the metering system.