A glossary of photography terms or terminology
Photography definitions
Photographer’s jargon
35MM EQUIVALENT (Focal range)
This is the focal range of a 35mm camera (aka the zoom range, from wide angle to telephoto) as opposed to a digital camera's zoom lens. Camera manufacturers always provide the 35mm equivalent focal range as a point of reference. (For old time film photographers) The distance needed to produce a sharp image measured the magnification of a certain lenses with a standard film size. This is known as your focal length. A lenses with a 45-55mm focal length is considered a standard lenses.
ARTIFACT
No we are not talking about religious items or ancient Egyptian tombs. This is usually in reference to JPEG picture compression. An artifact is an unwanted characteristic that degrades the quality of your digital pictures. An example of an artifact is if jagged edges appear on what should be a straight edge. Associated with a type of noise in a camera.
APERTURE
The aperture is similar to the iris in your eye (Similar to the black part of the eye) an iris is built into the camera's lens. The iris of a camera, just like your eye, opens up and allows more light to reach the imaging sensor. This happens in low lighting conditions and the iris will close more or be a smaller diameter to allow less light to reach the sensor. In the aperture priority camera mode, the photographer decides on the camera's aperture setting. The camera will automatically choose the appropriate shutter speed (Shutter speed is the amount of time the camera shutter is open and the image sensor is exposed to light).
BACKLIT
Backlit refers to a lighting condition where the object or person has a source of lighting emanating from the read of the subject.
A backlit subject, such as somebody with their back towards the sun, causes exposure problems because their face is in the shadow. If you can't move the subject into a better lighting situation, consider using a fill flash to obtain a more balanced exposure.
BITMAP
A bitmap is an image that consists of a large grid of tiny dots or pixels. Every pixel has an individual color and brightness value. Computer files ending in .bmp are not unusual in Windows XP. Digital photos are all bit mapped which includes JPEGs. Dots make up all pictures and the finer the dots, then the better the picture.
BUFFER
The camera’s internal memory, that is to be written to the memory card.
BURST OR CONTINOUS MODE
Burst mode allows the photographer to take several pictures quickly in rapid succession. This is at a much faster rate than in the single frame mode. The image rate is measured in frames per second (fps). This is the ideal mode for action shots, such as football and other sporting events. If you take a group imaging shots using burst mode then you will later choose and decide on the best shots.
CD-ROM
Compact Disc, Read Only Memory. This is a popular consumer storage media used for image and software distribution. CD-R and CD-RW are recordable variations of this media.
CENTER WEIGHTED METERING
A camera that uses center-weighted metering will measure light, mostly from the center of the image. This takes lighting levels into account from the surrounding areas of the image that you are trying to capture. Professional cameras give you the option to choose different metering or rather lighting modes. In other words…
Metering describes the process that the camera uses to measure the available light and chooses the proper lighting exposure level.
CLONING (not animals)
This is a term used for a technique used in imaging editing programs, like Photoshop, that will replace a part of an image by copying another area of the image over it. This is similar to the old double exposure technique of photography.
CCD (Charge Coupled Devise)
This is the IC or integrated circuit that is inside many digital cameras. This acts as an image sensor. The IC chip converts the photographic image of light from the lens into an electrical signal that is converted into a digital image will be stored on the memory card of your camera.
(See CMOS below)
CMOS
Complimentary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor
A solid-state computer chip; which is responsible for capturing the image in a camera. (See CCD above)
CMYK
The acronym stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black, which are the colored inks used by most print processes. Cyan is blue and Magenta is reddish purple. Black is (K)
COMPACT FLASH
A version of flash memory, with a memory card, that is known for its very high storage capacities up to 1GB.
COMPRESSION (JPEG – GIF)
A formula and a process that will shrink a file size. Lossless compression algorithms (a formula) can compress or shrink file sizes without losing any of the original information. Lossy compression algorithms (formulas), such as JPEG or GIF, will lose some of the original information. Image quality is degraded in the compression process. Compressed TIFF files discard less information, but results in larger image files. (See RAW.)
CPU
Central Processing Unit, the CPU is the chip responsible for the work that a personal computer does. Intel and AMD are the largest makers of CPU chips.
CROP (nothing to do with farmers or alien crop circles)
To crop is to separate part of the edges of an image. Cropping is usually used to emphasize a subject or an object in a Picture. You basically cut a piece of the picture out and enlarging this can lead to an unpleasant blurred image if the photo doesn't have enough resolution to start with.
DEPTH OF FIELD
Refers to the zone of focus in a photograph. The subject is in sharp focus, but the background can be blurry or sharp. Portraits usually have a blurred background to have a pronounced subject. Landscape usually tries to be sharp and in focus for the whole image.
DIGITAL ZOOM
This zoom function is a digital enlargement of the center image. A digital zoom produces images that are not as sharp than a true optical zoom. The digital zoom creates a digital enlargement for the original image and it can suffer in quality, it is not a true zoom like an optical zoom feature.
DPI
Dots Per Inch is a measure of the number of pixels (dots) contained in one linear inch of a picture or image. The larger the number of pixels can increase the quality of an image.
DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)
DVDs are very similar to CD-ROM’s but the memory capacity is much greater. DVD-R and DVD-RW are recordable mediums.
ELECTRONIC VIEWFINDER (EVF)
This type of viewfinder is found on digital cameras. Unlike a DLR optical range finder, the image sensor on the back of the camera generates the image seen in the EVF.
EXPOSURE
This is the amount of light that reaches the camera's digital image sensor. The sensor is exposed to light.
EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
Is a setting that provides for a manual override that requires the exposure to be shorter or longer than the camera’s automatic sensor to choose. This allows the photographer to choose to underexpose or overexpose the image and is used in film and digital photography.
F-STOP (f-stop)
The f-stop is the relative size of the aperture of the lens. This determines the exposure and depth of field. Exposure is the amount of light allowed to the image sensor to enable it to become viewed.
FILL FLASH
FILL FLASH is a flash feature, used primarily to fill in the shadows in a setting where there is some light available to take pictures.
FOCAL LENGTH
The focal length of a lens tells you the power of its magnification. Small focal-length lenses are wide angle; large focal-length lenses are telephoto. A zoom lens has a variable focal length lens, most commonly with a 3:1 ratio (e.g., 35-105mm). (See 35mm top)
GIGABYTE (GB)
This is a unit of measurement for permanent (hard disk) and temporary (RAM) electronic storage. One gigabyte consists of roughly one thousand megabytes (the next smaller unit of measure).
HERTZ (Hz)
A unit of measure for cycles or revolutions per second abbreviated Hz. 1Hz equals 1 cycle per second. 1kHz (kilohertz) equals 1,000 cycles per second, 1MHz equals 1 million cycles per second, and 1GHz equals 1 billion cycles per second. Hertz was the name of the German scientist that worked on this unit of measurement.
HUE
The hue of a color is where it belongs in the color spectrum. You have many shades of color and this is what hue is all about. In Photoshop and other image-editing software programs, colors are defined as an alphanumeric value and this is used to make color adjustments to an image easy and precise.
INTERPOLATED
Interpolation is a process by which software enlarges image resolution beyond the actual resolution. The software analyzes the image and creates new pixels based on the surrounding pixels in the image. This technique is commonly used for digital zoom, where in essence, something is created from nothing.
ISO RATING
An ISO rating measures the imaging sensor’s sensitivity to light of a camera. Most digital cameras will have an adjustable ISO setting. This is used to simulate results you would obtain using more or less sensitive films in a 35mm camera. The more sensitive the image sensor is to light, then the higher the ISO setting will be.
ISO stands for International Standards Organization.
JPEG (COMPRESSION)
JPEG is a useful digital photograph or image file format standard. This allows for one to compress or shrink the image. You can balance quality with image size and save on memory space and still preserve image quality. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, an international authority that decides standards for image compression.
LCD
LCD stands for liquid-crystal display. LCD’s are on the back of digital cameras to display images and menus. Mini LCD’s are also used as electronic viewfinders (EVF). Televisions and computer monitors are using LCD’s.
MANUAL
Manual mode allows one to set the camera's shutter speed or aperture of the lens and you can still use the built-in light meter. This overrides the automatic setting of the camera.
MACRO LENS
Macro lenses are designed to focus on objects at a very close range. This is similar to a microscope and will magnify the image. This lens is perfect for detailed images of shots of insects or flowers.
MEGABYTE (MB)
A unit of measure for permanent (hard disk) and temporary (RAM) electronic storage. One megabyte consists of roughly one thousand kilobytes (the next smaller unit of measure).
MEGAPIXEL
Mega stands for million and pixel in number of dots so a mega pixel is one million pixels or rather the dots that compose digital image. Mega pixels are used as a measurement of the resolution of the camera's imaging sensor. The more pixels used for the image, the larger that you can make the photograph without the pixels becoming noticeable to the naked eye. Newspapers pictures are an example of the dots used for pictures.
MEMORY
Memory is the amount of information a storage device can remember. Alternative removable memory devices include XD Picture Cards, Compact Flash, and Secure Digital or SD memory cards. My Nikon cameras use the SD format.
METERING
Metering is the choosing the proper lighting exposure setting and this is essential for the best in picture quality. Metering is the image process that is used by the camera to take quality pictures. There are different metering modes, such as center-weighted and spot metering, and they have differing priorities and characteristics.
OPTICAL ZOOM
Optical zoom is the zoom or telephoto range of the lens on the camera. Optical zoom is the opposite of digital zoom.
RAM
Random-Access Memory, RAM is the temporary electronic storage for your camera or computer. This is very fast memory and is not dependent upon a hard drive. Gamers use this for video games for fast memory intensive playing.
RAW
Raw is a very high quality file format that is uncompressed and is used in high quality digital cameras. Raw uses a lot of memory to store the RAW images, as they are not compressed to save disc space. Most of your digital cameras will squeeze or rather compress a picture using a JPEG formula or algorithm format and then transfer the image to the camera's memory card. TIFF is a file format, which will use less compression to deliver better image quality than JPEG but it has a lager file size. Tiff is smaller than RAW, but larger than JPEG.
REMOVABLE MEDIA (Memory)
Removable media is the type of memory storage that can be removed from the camera. Removable media mentioned with digital cameras are Compact Flash, Secure Digital, Memory Stick, XD Picture Cards, and Micro Drives. The term also applies to memory media such as CD-ROM and floppy discs.
RESOLUTION
Resolution is in reference to digital cameras and the maximum size of an image that a camera can capture. Resolution is measured in the number of pixels or mega pixels. When referring to printing, then resolution is a measurement of the number of individual dots; the printer can fit into one inch (see also dpi).
RGB (Red, Blue and Green)
All the colors we can see are made up from a mixture of Red, Green and Blue. These three primary colors make up all other colors. (See also CMYK)
SATURATION
Saturation or rather color purity, will describe how rich and vivid the color tones that are in the image. Saturated colors have high levels of the primary colors. Desaturated colors appear bleached out, dull, and weak. Saturation is a highly subjective view among photographers. Differing levels of saturation are better for differing types of photography. Fall landscapes are better with the leaves changing colors and being saturated to bring out the vivid colors.
SCENE MODES
Many digital cameras have function modes that are pre-set for specific scenes. You select a certain mode for particular situations; such as portrait (faces) sport (action) Scenic modes will adjust the camera's exposure settings to allow greater depth of field and allow the whole picture to be in focus.
SHUTTER
The shutter is the cover of the aperture that opens to regulate the amount of time that the camera's image sensor is exposed to light from the subject to create an image. Shutter speeds are measured in seconds and fractions of seconds. Longer shutter speeds are better at low light conditions and quicker speeds are better in bright light.
SHUTTER PRIORITY
This exposure mode setting allows you to set the shutter speed, and the camera adjusts the lens aperture according to what it meters for the correct exposure.
SHUTTER SPEED
This is the amount of time that the shutter is open and allows light to reach the imaging sensor. If a photographer is going to use a setting for a large aperture and they are going to be shooting in bright light or possibly taking a picture of a quick moving object then you may wan to use a fast shutter speeds to obtain the best images.
SLR (Single Lens Reflex)
Single-lens reflex. The standard definition of an SLR camera is that the image appearing in the viewfinder is the same as that taken through the lens. SLR cameras generally have the added ability to interchange lenses.
SPOT METERING
Spot Metering is an exposure mode where the readings taken by the camera are from a small area of the image area and where the lighting levels from the rest of the scenic area will be ignored.
TELEPHOTO LENS
A telephoto lens has a long focal length and this mimics a telescope to magnify distant objects. Digital cameras have zoom type lenses and these have variable focal lengths that have characteristics of both wide-angle and telephoto lenses.
TIFF
TIFF is a high quality imaging file format standard that uses less compression as opposed to the JPEG format and this results in larger files. TIFF means Tagged Image File Format.
TTL METERING (Through The Lens)
TTL stands for Through The Lens.
TTL metering is considered the most accurate metering, due in fact because it's based on the same light levels that are reaching the camera's image sensor. Nikon uses TTL metering in their digital cameras.
USB
Universal Serial Bus or USB is a method that is now very common and very fast method of transferring digital images from your digital camera to your computer. USB is the standard used to connect printers, scanners, and other devices to your computer or just PC. The latest USB standard is USB 2.0 and this is about 40 times faster than the older USB 1.1.
WHITE BALANCE (not racial diversity)
White light is made up of a mixture of colors.
Remember when you took a white light in science class and put it through a prism and you would see a rainbow of colors. A perfect "white" would be the perfect balance of all colors. Each light source will have some mixture of red, green, and blue (primary colors) in it. Digital camera’s can analyze the light source and compensate to try to achieve the proper color balance in any given setting. Digital cameras allow you to override the factory default white balance setting to compensate for particular lighting situations, such as incandescent or fluorescent lamps, clouds or sunlight. These tend to favor certain colors of light, ever notice the red sky at sunset?
WIDE-ANGLE LENS
A wide-angle lens has a short focal length and this results in a wide field of view. Digital cameras usually have zoom lenses and they use variable focal lengths that have characteristics of wide angle, zoom and telephoto lenses.
Celebrity photographers and the paparazzi
I am not involved with this in anyway...
Paparazzo is the combination of two Italian words papatacci, which has the meaning of “gnat” and “razzi” which has a meaning of the popping of flashbulbs. We no longer use disposable flashbulbs, but rather speed lights or flash units that are digital.
The Italian word paparazzo was first coined by Mr. Federico Fellini, as this was the name he gave to an aggressive prying high society photographer in his 1959 film "La Dolce Vita". Paparazzi photography is driven and fueled by greed by the tabloids offering large sums of money. Photographers try to catch celebrities as well as the rich and famous in compromising and unflattering poses and situations.
To the celebrities’ photographers or rather the paparazzi were just an annoying group of photographers who were so very persistent when trying to get a salable picture or a snapshot of a celebrity. This is due to the fact that the public is so crazy about movie stars and celebrities that the photographers could sell the pictures or image for extremely large amounts of money.
Digital and film technology became more advanced as did the camera equipment the photographers and paparazzi used. Telephoto and zoom lenses insured that no major celebrity can avoid them for long. Celebrities and politicians, captains of industry can been seen emerging from their limo’s and cars, entering high society glittering parties or just trying to go on a private secluded vacation.
Glamorous and rich personal famous figures of the modern day are followed by the photographers who wield long range zoom lenses and a brazen shamelessness of greed. The paparazzi trespass on private property and the take shots and pictures of movie celebrities during intimate moments in private places and even go so far as to stalking a public figures. Some of these photographic images can be worth in the millions of dollars. A single photograph of Prince Charles, when he was married to Princess Di, as he was seen together with his mistress Camilla Parker-Bowles is estimated to be worth millions of English pounds sterling.
The royal prince of England and his mistress usually arrive and depart at different times in order to avoid the paparazzi when they attend a function together. Almost all of the well known famous faces have had run-ins with the paparazzi photographers. Many famous people have horror stories to tell to all that will listen.
The Hollywood Screen Actors Guild has been concerned with the photographer’s paparazzi army and how it affects many of its 100,000 members. "The death of Princess Diana was the final straw" quotes SAG president, Richard Masur. He, along with California Senators Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, and three respected constitutional scholars had a meeting to discuss what could be done about the paparazzi. In less than four hours, they came up with the rough wording of S. 2103 (Quill, 27). Many feel these laws violate the freedom of the press and freedom of speech provisions of the US constitution.
Before his death Rep. Sonny Bono introduced the first bill, H. Rep. 2448, going so far as to specify prison terms for harassment that results in injury (5 years) or death (20 years). The California bill states that harassment would be considered "persistently physically following or chasing a victim, in circumstances where the victim has a reasonable expectation of privacy."
After Bono’s death, Rep. Elton Gallegly, a California Republican, offered H. R. 3224, a more carefully defined version of Bono’s proposal. Rep. Bono’s widow succeeded her husband to keep the Bono name on H. R. 2448. There are many bills being made to stop the most aggressive of the paparazzi but many take away from the first Amendment, freedom of speech. Sen. Feinstein’s bill, S.2103, differs from the House bills because it also provides for civil actions against members of the press and freelance photographers for use of high-powered lenses, microphones, or helicopters used to trespass on private property for commercial purposes and gain.
This legal provision attempts to supplement any and all existing laws of trespass, creating a new legal cause of action for new forms of trespass made possible by modern technological advances in photography and electronic eavesdropping. Victims can sue to recover compensatory, and punitive damages and they may also petition a court and seek injunctions and declamatory relief.
All three of the so called paparazzi bills, H. R. 2448 and 3224 in the House, and S. 2103 in the Senate by statute, in their own way, create new criminal and civil penalties for commercially motivated invasions of privacy that result from persistent chases or other invasive methods used by photographers, videographers and audio sound recorders.
Actor Brad Pitt and actress of his past girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow were caught vacationing on a private island in the nude and their pictures were sold to the highest bidder to a tabloid. The only way someone could snap those nude photographs would have been to trespass on private property.
Michael J. Fox told his unhappy story to the Senate about when he was leaving a movie premier with his wife and a police escort when they both were mobbed by the paparazzi. The resulting photographs of Fox and his wife looking in distress with a police officer assisting them. The trashy tabloids published fictional articles stating that they were being sent death threats and were afraid for their lives. Because of that article, an allegedly disturbed female started sending Mr. Fox real death threats over six thousand total. She was finally and eventually arrested and served some jail time.
Michael J. Fox says "I firmly believe that she would not have acted had the tabloid not provided an irresponsible, fictional precedent. There were stalking laws that protected us from her, but no deterrent or law to protect us from aggressive paparazzi". He states that "it’s the hunting, not the cooking" that celebrities want protection against.
Many other movie and TV stars, politicians, wealthy and victims of infamous crimes have similar stories. The laws that are being considered, four in total as of June 1998, have a positive and negative side to them. All laws are being made to protect against "commercially motivated invasions of privacy". However, some lawyers fear that these laws could do more harm than good.
Washington DC media lawyer Lee Levine said that if the paparazzi legislation passed he could and I quote "envision almost anyone who did not like a story that included a picture of him suing under this new law".
Because of the legal concern that Levine and many other lawyers fear the new laws being presented to the legislation state that it is not illegal to publish whatever photograph is taken in public. According to the people who would like to see the bill passed, the bill would protect those who are harassed verbally and physically by photographers of the paparazzi who are just trying to get a photograph image or picture of a person at their worst for higher sums of money and it would protect the privacy of people, who 50 years ago, couldn’t even imagine the possibilities of future technology. "In the two hundred nine years since the First Amendment was authored, this balance has become progressively hardly to achieve. Before the advent of inexpensive, lightweight, telephoto lenses and long-range listening devices, one could feel relatively secure that, when you were in your own home, no one could closely observe you unless they entered your property".
Because of the modern technological advances in photography, congress should pass some sort of bill that would take this into account. The bill would protect those who are harassed by being persistently followed for the purpose of making a visual or audio recording. In a case where the harassment would cause a person to fear injury, a cause of action would be created. If the harassment results in serious bodily injury, or death, it would constitute a crime.
There is a current legal argument here is that we already have laws protecting against anyone who becomes hurt by the violent actions of another person. People opposed to the new laws that are trying to become passed say that all incidents where a certain member of the paparazzi got out of hand were taken care of through the legal system.
Mr. Paul McMasters, a First Amendment Ombudsman at The Freedom Forum told the House Judiciary Committee that "State and local jurisdictions already have laws dealing with invasion of privacy, intrusion upon seclusion, trespass, harassment, and other problems taken up in the federal legislation”.
Mr. McMasters brought up the 1973 trial where a judge ordered free-lance photographer Mr. Ron Gatella to stay at least 25 feet from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and 30 feet from her children after a long period of harassing coverage as an example of how the legal system intervened when a paparazzi photographer went to the extreme.
Another legal case he mentioned was the 1996 trial where a judge imposed similar legal restrictions on an Inside Edition camera crew that had staked out a family in pursuit of a story. Two British photographers were convicted in a California court and sentenced to jail terms for their attempts to photograph actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver.
Actor’s George Clooney and others led a boycott of tabloid TV shows for what he considered intrusive and unfair coverage. He was joined by his colleagues on the cast of ER, as well as other big TV and movie stars, including Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O’Donnell, and Steven Spielberg. As a result of the boycott, the shows changed their rules about what would be accepted and aired.
When a vague and ambitious law interferes with the public’s right to see, hear and be touched by the news, they are robbed of their ability to make their own judgments about what they consider "news". Americans are so bored of their lives that they want to gossip about other famous people and their troubles. Some say that trying to create more and more of the same laws that serve relatively the same purpose would be irrelevant.
The California Newspaper Publishers Association has support of the top 3 TV networks in fighting the Anti-paparazzi bill, SB262, including CNN who hired a lobbying firm to fight the bill. CNPA said new opponents include the California Manufacturers Association, law enforcement agencies, private detectives and unions. The manufacturers are worried that the bill would make it illegal to photograph their employees while playing football or other sports while receiving workers compensation. The police are worried they would be sued for spying on criminals and private eyes are worried because they photograph and film people undercover all the time.
Unfortunately for those opponents, the Anti-Paparazzi bill, SB 262, was passed in California 48-13. This bill would define invasion of privacy as trespassing with the intent to capture audio or video images of a celebrity or crime victim engaging in a personal or family activity. It will allow the celebrity or crime victim to recover damages from the paparazzi and people who employ them.
According to Andrea Brown, who was a spokesperson for the former governor Pete Wilson, "The governor thought it was important because of safety issues for normal everyday people. These people deserve to conduct their personal lives in private. Technology requires changes in any law. It creates new ways for people to commit crimes."
After all the research done on the pro’s and con’s of new laws that would affect the paparazzi it’s easy to see how these laws could affect people on both sides of the issue. Paparazzi photographers have to make a living and the famous deserve their privacy. Celebrities know that with fame comes the loss of privacy but they do not deserve to loss all privacy and not all paparazzi photographers are ruthless, shameless, aggressive people.
