Glossary

ambient light Refers to the available light in a given setting, whether by natural light or any other light sources in a room/setting. Ambient light does not refer to flash.

angle of view The area of a scene that a lens can capture, determined by the focal length of the lens. Lenses with a shorter focal length have a wider angle of view than lenses with a longer focal length.

aperture The size of the lens opening through which light passes. Aperture is referred to by f-stop numbers. See also f-stop.

Aperture Priority (Av) A setting on an automatic camera that enables you to choose the opening in the lens while the camera sets the shutter speed accordingly for the best picture.

back light Refers to when a subject is primarily lit from behind.

bounce flash Pointing the flash away from the subject toward a wall, ceiling, or other hard surface, causing it to bounce off that surface before hitting the subject, thus softening the light illuminating the subject. Bouncing the light often eliminates shadows and provides a smoother light for portraits.

catch light The sparkly reflection captured in the eye of the subject. This catch light gives spark and life to the eyes.

color cast The color of light in a given photograph. Different light sources have different color temperatures. For example, household lights have a very orange cast, and fluorescent bulbs have a greenish cast.

contrast The difference between light and dark in a photo. A low-contrast image has a limited range of contrast in that there is no big difference between light and dark tones. A contrasty or high-contrast image has a big difference between light and dark tones.

depth of field The area in a photo that is in focus. In portraits, especially, a pleasing photo can be taken with a narrow depth of field, in which the person or people are in focus and everything else in the background is out of focus. See also f-stop.

diffuser Refers to anything that diffuses light in some way. It could be a sheet or curtain or a commercial diffuser made specifically for photographers.

digital noise Comparable to grain in film. When an image is captured at a very high ISO (usually 800 or higher) noise is introduced into the image that makes it appear grainy and less sharp.

direct light Light falling directly on the subject from its source. Direct light is light that has not been diffused or reflected off of something else.

environmental portraiture Portraits taken in the subject’s environment — a yard, home, garden, workplace, and so on. See also photojournalistic style.

exposure Created when a certain amount of light (controlled by the aperture) hits the camera sensor for a certain amount of time (controlled by shutter speed). Technically speaking, an exposure is a photographic image.

fill flash Using a flash unit (on-camera or otherwise) to illuminate the subject in order to eliminate shadows. Using a flash for outdoor portraits often brightens up the subject in conditions where the camera meters light from a broader scene. See also fill light.

fill light Any light that is not the primary illumination of a subject. See also main light.

filter Glass or other material that covers a lens to change the color or intensity of an image, soften an image, take away glare, or do any number of things to improve your photos. A filter also can be a post-production software tool that is used to create a variety of effects.

f-stop A measure of the size of the opening of the lens aperture. As the f-number increases in size (that is, f/8.0, f/9.0, f/22) the size of the aperture opening decreases. As the f-number decreases (f/5.6, f/4.0, f/2.0) the size of the aperture increases. The f-stop determines the depth of field, or the area that is in and out of focus in the frame. See also aperture and depth of field.

golden hour The hour before sunset is prized by photographers because the sun is at a low angle in the sky and the light is soft and golden as a result of passing through the earth’s atmosphere at a low angle. See also sweet light.

Golden Rectangle An area (based on the Golden Ratio of 1:1.618) of an image considered to be most pleasing to the human eye. The Rule of Thirds is based on the Golden Rectangle divided into thirds to help guide the composition of a photograph. See also Rule of Thirds.

hard light Light quality that casts a harsh shadow and is often unflattering to most subjects. See also direct light.

high key An image that has predominantly light tones and low contrast. The subject stands out because the skin tones appear darker than the clothing and background. The opposite of low-key photography. See also low key.

indirect light Light that has been diffused through or reflected off of something else. Indirect light is not falling directly from the light source. See also soft light.

ISO setting Determines the sensitivity to light in your camera. You can set the ISO to make the camera more or less sensitive to light. The higher the ISO, the better the picture you get in darker conditions. However, you also get more grain or noise in your final image. See also noise.

JPEG An image format that compresses the image data from the camera to achieve a smaller file size. See also lossy.

leading lines Lines in the environment, such as roads, paths, edges, fences, and shadows, that draw the eye to the subject in a photograph or through the photograph in a specific direction.

lossless A file compression type that discards no image data. TIFF is a lossless file format.

low key An image that has predominantly dark tones, with the subject usually standing out in light tones. The opposite of high-key photography. See also high key.

main light Light that provides the primary illumination of the subject being photographed. See also fill light.

megapixels Equivalent to 1 million pixels. The higher the pixel count, the bigger the potential print size. For example, 2-megapixel cameras can produce quality 4 × 6 prints, and 8-megapixel cameras can produce great prints up to 10 × 14. See also pixel.

noise A grainy appearance in a photo that is usually the result of low-light conditions and long exposures, particularly when you’ve set your camera to a higher ISO rating than normal.

photojournalistic style A style that seeks to capture more candid moments rather than traditional posed portraits. See also environmental portraiture.

pixel Shortened from Picture Elements, this is the unit that makes up a digital image. See also megapixel.

point and shoot A camera that does not have interchangeable lenses and typically is easier to use and more compact than a digital SLR camera. See also SLR.

red eye An effect from flash photography caused by light bouncing from the retina of the eye. It is most noticeable in dimly lit situations (when the irises are wide open) and when the electronic flash is close to the lens and, therefore, prone to reflect the light directly back. It creates a red glow in human eyes.

reflector A device that can reflect light onto your subject. Reflectors can reflect flash/strobe lights or natural light.

Rembrandt lighting A lighting pattern that uses a single light source placed at a 45-degree angle to the subject, resulting in an image with a three-dimensional appearance.

rim light The silhouette and halo effect around the hair of a subject achieved by placing a light in back of the subject.

Rule of Thirds States that you can divide the frame of your image into three sections vertically and three sections horizontally. The best spots to place your subject are where the lines intersect. This rule keeps you from placing everything in the center of the photograph, which is less compositionally pleasing. See also Golden Rectangle.

sepia Photographs with a brownish tone — a great alternative to color or black and white. Sepia photographs look antique. The tone can be achieved either by a filter on the lens or in digital post-production.

shutter speed The amount of time that the lens shutter is open to let light in through to the sensor; usually measured in fractions, such as 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, and 1/500 second. The combination of the shutter speed and the f-stop determine the exposure.

SLR Single lens reflex. A camera that enables you to view the scene from the same lens that takes the photograph. In most point-and-shoot cameras with fixed lenses, you view the scene from a different lens than the one that takes the photo.

soft light Light quality that creates gentle shadows and is more flattering to most subjects. See also indirect light.

specular highlight The reflection of the light source (sky, sun, or flash) on the subject. Different examples include the catch light you see as a white dot in the eye in a photograph; the too-bright spots on foliage that can be a terrible distraction in a portrait; and the soft line of light that you often see on a nose when light comes in from the side.

sweet light The light seen at dawn and dusk, when the sun is at a great angle. The effect it produces is soft and gentle and bathes the subject with modeling and often atmosphere light. See also golden hour.

TIFF A type of file storage format that has no compression, and therefore, no loss of image detail. TIFF files can be very large image files. See also lossless.

white balance The colorcast to any given image that may need to be corrected using software or settings in the camera.

©Ginny Felch / www.photographingchildren.com