Glossary
The autofocus sets the range of the lens to the correct distance so your pictures won’t be blurry.
When taking a picture, the autofocus indicator identifies the object that is used to set the lens’s range. On most cameras, the autofocus indicator is a small green box that appears on the display. If the picture is blurry, the focus indicator will blink.
A camera is a device we use to take pictures.
A card reader is a device that attaches to a computer and can read your camera’s memory card. It’s used to transfer pictures onto your computer’s hard drive.
See sensor.
The display is the screen on the back of the camera. In shooting mode, the display shows a live image of what the lens is pointed at. In review mode, the display shows images that have already been captured.
The exposure time is the length of time it takes for your camera to take a picture.
Before digital cameras and sensors were invented, people used film to absorb light and take pictures.
The flash is a small but powerful light that turns on for a brief moment while the camera takes a picture. It allows you to take photos when there is not enough natural light.
All files, including pictures, are saved on a computer’s hard drive. A memory card serves the same purpose in a camera.
The lens is the eye of the camera. It’s made up of many glass lenses similar to the lenses in eyeglasses or microscopes.
The macro setting allows you to get really close to your subject and also allows you to make small objects look large.
Pictures that you take with your camera are saved to the memory card. There are different types of memory cards, but the most common ones are small SD cards. More than 1,000 pictures can fit on a single memory card, depending on how large the pictures are.
During a long exposure time, anything in front of the camera that moves will cause blurring and will be out of focus.
The night flash is a special flash mode. In contrast to the normal flash, the night flash is not as bright and has a longer exposure time. If you need to use a flash, rely on this setting to help you create beautiful pictures.
A photo shoot is a scheduled occasion for a photographer to take several pictures of someone. The term comes from advertising photography.
A photography studio is a workplace for photographers. Photographers take, edit, and sell pictures there.
The picture angle determines the left and right limits of a picture’s frame.
A picture browser is a computer program designed to display pictures on a computer screen.
A portrait is a picture of a person that usually shows their face. If you take a picture of yourself, it’s called a “self-portrait.”
To reflect is to throw back light. Everything reflects light to some degree. Light-colored objects reflect more light, and dark-colored objects reflect less light.
Review mode allows you to see what you’ve already photographed. You can review all of your pictures on the camera’s display.
The self-timer makes it possible to delay the moment when your camera takes a picture. If you turn the self-timer on, a few seconds will pass between when you press the shutter-release button and when the camera snaps a picture.
The sensor, or chip, absorbs images, which are then saved on the memory card.
In shooting mode, you’ll see a live image on the camera’s display that you can capture by pressing the shutter-release button.
The subject of a photograph is what you’re trying to show in your picture. Anything can be a subject: people, animals, or things.
A telephotograph is a picture with a tight angle. It allows you to make your subject fill up more of a picture’s frame. You might want someone’s face to take up the whole picture, for example.
A wide angle allows you to take a picture of almost everything you can see. You would use a wide angle to take a photo of all your classmates, for example.
The zoom is a lens that allows you to determine the boundaries of your picture’s frame. Sometimes you’ll want to draw attention to one specific detail, and sometimes you’ll want to capture a larger area. Sometimes you’ll have a subject that is big and close, and sometimes you’ll have a subject that is small and distant.