Aperture: Circular hole in front of or within a lens that restricts the amount of light passing through the lens to the photographic material. Backlighting: When light is coming from behind the subject, toward the camera lens, so that the subject stands out vividly against the background. Sometimes produces a silhouette effect. Bracketing: Taking a series of photographs of the same subject at different exposures to insure the "correct" exposure; useful when shooting in situations where a normal metering reading is difficult to obtain.
Camera Angles: Various positions of the camera (high, medium, or low; and left, right, or straight on) with respect to the subject, each giving a different viewpoint, perspective or visual effect. Candid Pictures: Unposed pictures of people, often taken without the subject's knowledge. These usually appear more natural and relaxed than posed pictures. Composition: The pleasing arrangement of the elements within a scene-the main subject, the foreground and background, and supporting subjects.
Contact print: Negative-sized photograph made by exposing photographic paper while it is held tightly against the negative. Images in the print will be the same size as those in the negative Contrast: The range of tones in a photograph and their graduation. Extremely bright highlights and dark shadows with few intermediate tones give high contrast. Darkroom: A red light area used for processing films and for printing and processing papers; also for loading and unloading film holders and some cameras.
Depth of field: The distance between the nearest and furthest point from the camera within which the subject details record with acceptable sharpness at any one focus and aperture setting. Developer: A solution used to make visible the image produced by allowing light to fall on the light-sensitive material. Double Exposure: Two pictures taken on one frame of film, or two images printed on one piece of photographic paper. DPI: Dots per Inch. This is a measurement value used to describe the resolution of a display screen or that of a printer
Enlarger: A device consisting of a light source, a negative holder, and a lens, and means of adjusting these to project an enlarged image from a negative onto a sheet of photographic paper. Film: A photographic emulsion coated on a flexible, transparent base that records images or scenes Filter: A coloured piece of glass or other transparent material used over the lens to emphasize, eliminate, or change the colour or density of the entire scene or certain areas within a scene. Camera lens filters are usually glass either dyed or sandwiching a piece of gelatine in a screw-in filter holder.
Fixer: Solution, usually based on sodium thiosulphate, in which films or prints are immersed after development to convert the unexposed silver halides in the emulsion to soluble products that can be washed out. This prevents subsequent deterioration of the image. Focal length: The distance between the lens and the film, when focused for a subject at infinity. Focus: Adjustment of the distance setting on a lens to define the subject sharply, the act of adjusting a lens to produce a sharp image. Hue: The name of a colour (for example, red, blue, yellow)
ISO International Standards Organisation: Current speed system (embracing ASA and DIN) used to express relative light sensitivity of films. JPEG. Joint Photographic Experts Group: This is the name of the committee that designed the standard image compression algorithm. JPEG was designed for compressing full colour or grey scale digital images of natural scenes. Macro lens: A lens - typically 50 or 100 mm - designed to give best image resolution at close subject distances. The lens barrel allows extended focusing movement.
Monochrome: Single coloured. Most frequently applied to black and white photographs. Negative Holder: A device designed to hold the negative in proper position in an enlarger. Negative: The developed film that contains a reversed tone image of the original scene. Overexposure: A condition in which too much light reaches the film, producing a dense negative or a very bright/light print or slide. Either the shutter speed was too long or the aperture was too wide.
Panorama: Capturing a series of images to create a picture wider than what you could capture in a single image, by "Stitching" the photographs together. Perforations: Regularly and accurately spaced holes punched throughout the length of film for still cameras, provide mechanical movement from frame to frame.
Perspective: The rendition of apparent space in a flat photograph, i.e., how far the foreground and background appear to be separated from each other; determined by only one factor: the camera-to-subject distance; if objects appear in their normal size relations, the perspective is considered "normal"; if the foreground objects are much larger than the ones in the background, the perspective is considered "exaggerated"; when there is little difference in size between foreground and background, we say the perspective looks "compressed." Photography: The art or process of producing images by the action of radiant energy and especially light on a sensitive surface.
Processing: Developing, fixing, and washing exposed photographic film or paper to produce either a negative image or a positive image. Saturation: The percentage of hue in a colour. Saturated colours are called vivid, strong, or deep. Desaturated colours are called dull, weak, or washed out. Sepia: The (brownish) mono toned effect seen in images from the original 19th and early 20th Century cameras. Shutter: The physical device that opens and closes to let light from the scene strike the image sensor.
Stop Bath: Darkroom material. An acid rinse used as a second step when developing black-and-white film or paper. Tripod: A three-legged supporting stand used to hold the camera steady, especially useful when using slow shutter speeds and/or telephoto lenses. Underexposure: A condition in which too little light reaches the film, producing a thin negative, a dark slide, or a muddylooking print. Vignetting: Underexposure of image corners produced deliberately by shading or unintentionally by inappropriate equipment, such as unsuitable lens hood or badly designed lens.