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 –
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- 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.
- Object – everything else other than the subject, that is visible in your captured image.
- 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.
- Focus Point – This is the point you set your focus on. In other words, this point will be the sharpest part in your image.
- 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.
- Sensor Size – determines how much light would your camera use to create an image.
- 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.
- Below is a series of photos which show focal length ranging from 18-55mm. with this withered rose as my subject.
- Exposure – tells you about the brightness or the darkness of an image.
- Contrast – defines the difference between the brightness and darkness of all the areas in a scene.
- 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.