1. Unit 57: Photography and Photographic Practice Terminology (P1, P2, M1, M2)
Term Explanation of term e.g. what it Examples
is used for / the effect it has on
your images
Shutter Speed Shutter speed is the time that the
shutter on a camera remains open
when taking a photograph. It controls
the focus and exposure of the picture.
Shutter speed shows slow and fast
movement.
ISO ISO is the level of sensitivity of your
camera to any available light. If the
ISO number is lower, the less sensitive it
is to the light, and a higher ISO
number increases the sensitivity of your
camera. Most cameras nowadays
have interchangeable settings to
control this.
Aperture & Depth of This setting on a camera controls the
field (F stop) amount of light that is hitting the
sensor. The aperture is the part of a
lens that dictates how much light is let
through to the sensor. If it's wide open,
lots of light gets through. If it's closed
down, not much light gets through

2. Automatic Exposure Automatic exposure is a standard
setting on a camera that
automatically determines the correct
exposure for pictures. All you have to
do is have the AE option selected.
Nearly all cameras have the
automatic exposure option.
Manual Exposure Manual exposure lets you set both the
aperture and shutter speed yourself.
This gives you ultimate control over the
exposure.
Colour Balance Colour balance is the global
adjustment of the intensities of the
colors, typically red, green, and blue
primary colors. Color balance
changes the overall mixture of colors
in an image and is used for color
correction

3. Composition This is where you use different angles
to determine what the composition
looks like. Composition basically
means how something is placed in an
image.
Rule of thirds The rule of thirds is a guideline that is
there for the photographer to follow,
in which it divides the shot into equal
parts, and has a main focus point. You
can pretend there are imaginary lines
and you position your photo
according to the lines.
Complementary These are colours that are opposite
Colours each other on the colour wheel and
are considered to be complementary.
An example for this would be red and
green, they are both vibrant colours
and complement each other well.

4. Analogous colours Analogous colours are 3 colours which
are next to each other on the colour
wheel. They create serene designs
and mostly found in nature and make
the environment look harmonious.
Macro Macro is extremely close-up
photography, usually of very small
objects, and in the photo the object is
greater than life size,