Digital Photography Essential Terminology Explained

So you want to get into photography? Great! There are a couple of terms that everyone really needs to learn first before they get into th...

So you want to get into photography? Great! There are a couple of terms that everyone really needs to learn first before they get into this and beforehand. They are the most basic of terminology that is essential to photography.

Shutter Speed

This is how long your camera’s shutter stays open for and it can be read on either the back of your screen or within the viewfinder. It is typically a fraction or a whole number.

For example:
1/15 = a fifteenth of a second
1/1000= a thousandth of a second
1”= 1 second
15” = fifteen seconds

Here are the basic rules to follow:
The longer the shutter speed the more motion that will be captured and the stiller you need to remain. This is great for capturing nighttime scenes.
The faster the shutter speed the less motion will be captured. This is great for capturing fast moving objects like sports action.
On your camera, this can be seen with the S mode.

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Aperture & Depth of Field

This is also known as an F stop. It controls how much of your image is in focus or not (IE what is clearly and sharply seen and what is blurred out.) It also controls how much light comes into the lens of your camera and hits the sensor (the equivalent of film.)

In general:
f1.4 = Enables high shutter speeds, not much is in focus.
f2.8 = Enables almost as high shutter speeds, more is in focus. Great for portraits.
f11 = Needs slower shutter speeds, much more is in focus.
f22 = Needs the slowest of shutter speeds. Everything you point your lens at should be in focus. Best used with a flash unless there is tons of available bright light.
On your camera this is also known as AV mode.

This is what is the range of distance within the subject that is acceptably and sharply in focus. It can be controlled using your F stops.

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ISO

Light sensitivity of your camera’s sensor. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive your camera will be to light and the grainier your images will be. The lower the ISO, the less sensitive the camera will be to light and the less grainier your images. Higher ISOs allow for faster shutter speeds.

ISO 100 = great for daylight use, no image grain.
ISO 400 = great for twilight use, a bit more grain.
ISO 1600 = much more suited towards low light or high action where you need to stop fast movement.
ISO 6400 = Even better suited to low light and fast action, but delivers grainy images.

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RAW

There are many different types of image files. The most common are JPEGs, which most cameras take and what you always see online. RAW is a much larger file that contains lots of information and allows for more flexible editing. Different camera companies make different RAW files. For example: Canon is CR2, Olympus ORF, Adobe is DNG.

Think of it this way:
Film: Negative -> Print
Digital: RAW -> JPEG
Not all cameras have RAW shooting mode. All DSLRs do though.