A device attached to the front of a camera lens to block unwanted light and reduce lens flare, especially in bright conditions.
Lens Hood
The adjustable opening in the lens that controls the amount of light entering the camera.
Aperture
How sensitive the camera is to light. Low numbers are for sunny days, and high numbers are for dark places.
ISO
The arrangement of elements within a photograph. Good ___________ involves considerations such as the rule of thirds, leading lines, and framing to create visually pleasing images.
Composition
A compositional guideline that divides the frame into a 3x3 grid, suggesting that important elements should be placed along the gridlines or their intersections for a balanced composition.
Rule of Thirds
The length of time the camera's sensor or film is exposed to light. It determines how motion is captured in a photograph.
Shutter Speed
The range of distances in a photograph that appears acceptably sharp.
Depth of Field
The combination of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO that determines the amount of light that reaches the camera's sensor.
Exposure
A camera setting that adjusts for different lighting conditions (e.g., daylight, fluorescent, tungsten) to ensure accurate colors in the photograph.
White balance
A common image file format that compresses and processes the image in-camera, resulting in smaller file sizes but less flexibility in post-processing compared to RAW.
JPEG
A lens with a variable focal length (e.g., 18-55mm) that allows you to zoom in and out.
Zoom Lens
A file format that contains unprocessed image data directly from the camera's sensor. RAW files offer greater flexibility in post-processing but require specialized software.
RAW
lens with a fixed focal length (e.g., 50mm) that cannot zoom. Prime lenses often have wide apertures, making them great for low-light and portrait photography.
Prime Lens
A camera setting that allows you to manually adjust the exposure to make an image brighter or darker than the camera's automatic exposure suggests.
Exposure Composition
A device attached to the front of a camera lens to block unwanted light and reduce lens flare, especially in bright conditions.
Lens Hood
A graphical representation of the distribution of tones (from dark to light) in an image. It helps photographers assess and adjust exposure.
Histogram
The distance between the camera's lens and the image sensor. It determines the field of view and magnification of the image.
Focal Length
The aesthetic quality of the out-of-focus areas in a photograph, often characterized by soft, blurred backgrounds achieved with a wide aperture.
Bokeh
Capturing multiple exposures of the same scene at different settings (e.g., exposure, white balance) to ensure one of them is correctly exposed or for later HDR (High Dynamic Range) merging.
Bracketing