Photography Simplified – I

The other day, I remembered about the time I picked up photography as a hobby and how I struggled to understand jargons related to photography. It can be frustrating, isn’t it? Thus, I am planning to write a series of posts with the intent of breaking down the photography lingo into simpler terms, such that it is not overwhelming for someone who has taken up photography as a hobby. My plan is to start with basics and gradually dive deeper.
Here are some of the very basic terminologies associated with the art of photography –

    1. Subject – A subject is what determines the theme of your image. In other words, it is your point of interest. A subject of your image could be anything depending on your intent of capture – a person, constituents of a landscape such as mountains or a starlit sky, species of the wildlife etc.
    2. Object – everything else other than the subject, that is visible in your captured image.
    3. Focus – Focus is about giving special attention to a subject in the frame. When an image is sharp, everything in the image is in focus.
    4. Focus Point – This is the point you set your focus on. In other words, this point will be the sharpest part in your image.
    5. Angle of View –
      • Measured in degrees
      • Tells you how much of the scene can you capture
      • Also known as Field of View
      • Mostly affected by Focal Length and Sensor Size.
    6. Sensor Size – determines how much light would your camera use to create an image.
    7. Focal Length –
      • Measured in millimeters (mm.)
      • Distance between the middle of your lens and a particular visible subject in the background.
      • Determines how magnified the subject can appear.
      • In simple words, it is the Angle of View of the camera’s lens.focal.png
      • Below is a series of photos which show focal length ranging from 18-55mm. with this withered rose as my subject.
    8. Exposure – tells you about the brightness or the darkness of an image.exposure.png
    9. Contrast – defines the difference between the brightness and darkness of all the areas in a scene.
    10. Viewfinder – Viewfinder gives the photographer an idea of how the image will appear after being clicked. This helps on focusing the subject in an image.