How to Talk Cameras

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By Richard Burke
eHow Contributing Writer

Article Rating: (7 Ratings)

Talk Cameras

One of the problems that novice photographers experience is they do not understand the language and terminology of photography. What does it mean to “push” the speed? What is “stopping down?" What is "lens flare?" It is hard for novice photographers to get help from more experienced photographers if they don’t speak a common language. I told a new photographer once, that his picture would have been better if he had decreased the depth of field. He of course asked, "what is depth of field?" In this article I will explain some basic photography terms in relation to cameras.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A camera
Internet access

Step 1

Point and Shool

Let's review the different types of still image cameras. They are separated into two categories: ANALOG, which uses film to capture the image and DIGITAL, which uses a SENSOR. A POINT-AND-SHOOT camera can be either digital or analog and has a LENS that is fixed and not detachable from the camera BODY. The IMAGE PLANE (or FILM PLANE) is the area where the EXPOSURE is made. In a point-and-shoot camera there are few controls to change during exposure, and most people use these cameras on automatic settings, although you can adjust them by changing the MODES setting. When the exposure is made, the lens automatically adjusts the APERTURE, which is the hole through which light passes onto the IMAGE PLANE. The SHUTTER is opened to let the light strike the SENSOR or FILM. The time the shutter is open is called SHUTTER SPEED and in most point-and-shoot cameras it is controlled automatically. The photographer may have a VIEWFINDER to look through or you can see the image on a DISPLAY SCREEN on the back of the camera. The camera displayed has no VIEWFINDER, and you must compose your image on the DISPLAY SCREEN on the back of the camera BODY.
Step 2

Single Lens Reflex

A SINGLE LENS REFLEX camera (SLR) can be an analog or digital camera. If it is digital it is called a DSLR. This camera uses an optical mirror to reflect the light to the viewfinder or display screen. This camera has detachable LENSES and provides the photographer with full control over APERTURE, SHUTTER SPEED and SENSITIVITY. Sensitivity is sometimes called ISO, which stands for International Standards Organization. This organization sets and controls the standards for FILM and SENSOR sensitivity to light. When an exposure is made, the MIRROR flips up and out of the way allowing the LIGHT to strike the sensor or film. This creates the familiar clicking noise we associate with taking a picture. Some point-and-shoot cameras contain a sound chip that duplicates this noise to make it seem more like an SLR.
Step 3

DSLR Controls

DIGITAL SLR cameras allow the photographer to have complete control over the image. They have automatic settings and MODE settings such as portrait and landscape. The camera can be used in AUTOMATIC mode, which makes it behave like a point-and-shoot camera, allowing a novice to gain experience before taking control. They have TTL (through the lens) metering that can be adjusted while looking through the EYEPIECE or VIEWFINDER. You can use AUTO FOCUS (AF) or focus manually by using the focus ring on the lens. You can choose SHUTTER PRIORITY or APERTURE PRIORITY to allow you to choose the aperture or shutter speed you desire. You can also adjust all settings manually. Finally, you can adjust AUTO EXPOSURE (AE) and AUTO FOCUS (AF) separately to allow you to automate some settings while manually adjusting others.
Step 4

Camera Lens

All SLR cameras allow you to interchange lenses. You can choose a ZOOM lens that allows you to adjust the FOCAL LENGTH of the lens. A TELEPHOTO lens may be called a LONG lens because it is longer than a NORMAL or WIDE ANGLE lens and because it allows you to photograph images in a distance. A normal PERSPECTIVE is considered to be 50mm. This means that images will appear to be NORMAL in size and shape. WIDE ANGLE lenses are between 18mm and 35mm, which gives you a wider-angle field of view, but tends to stretch objects near the edges of the image plane. An extreme wide-angle lens is called a FISHEYE lens. A TELEPHOTO lens is one that has a FOCAL LENGTH of 100mm to 1000mm. These lenses make objects that are far away appear closer and can compress objects to seem flatter.
Step 5

Shutter Speed

A dial on an SLR or digital settings on a DSLR control SHUTTER SPEED. Shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter is open allowing light to fall on the sensor or film. SHUTTER SPEED, APERTURE and SENSITIVITY (ISO) all have logarithmic proportions. A shutter speed of 1/125th of a second will allow twice as much light to strike the sensor as a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second. An APERTURE of F-11 will allow twice as much light to strike the sensor as an aperture of F-16. An ISO setting of ISO 400 is twice as sensitive as an ISO of 800. Photographers use these functions to control depth of field with APERTURE, object “freezing ability” with SHUTTER SPEED and low light conditions with ISO.

Comments

jamaclassics said

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on 2/23/2009 Awesome article, Richard. I did dark room photography for twenty years for various printing companies on commercial equipment, and these same principles apply. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed improving images by adjusting the F stop and using filters.