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Photography – A glossary of technical terms

Digital camera:A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. Digital cameras can do things film cameras cannot: displaying images on a screen immediately after they are recorded, storing thousands of images on a single small memory device, recording video with sound, and deleting images to free storage space.

Lens:A photographic lens (also known as objective lens or photographic objective) is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic film or on other media capable of storing an image chemically or electronically.

Tripod:A tripod is a three-legged stand used to support and stabilize a telescope, binoculars, or other optical or recording instrument. In photography a tripod is used to stabilize and evaluate a camera, or to support flashes or other photographic equipment.

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Lights:

An artificial light used to create shadows, and increase exposure of photographic or digital film. Often used in photo-shoots and portrait photography to enhance the clarity of an image or to recreate natural light in an enclosed environment.

Focus:An image, or image point or region, is ‘in focus’ if light from object points is converged almost as much as possible in the image and ‘out of focus’ is if light is not well converged.

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Close-up:In ‘Still photography’ a ‘close-up’ tightly frames a person or an object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium shots and long shots. Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene.

Portrait:

A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person in which the face and its expression predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality and even the mood of the person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography a portrait is generally a ‘snapshot’ but a composed image of a person in a still position. A portrait often shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer, in order to most successfully engage the

subject with the viewer.

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