Aperture: The opening in a lens that lets light in f-stop: A number describing the size of the aperture; smaller number means bigger opening Shutter speed: How long the camera's shutter stays open ISO: How sensitive the camera sensor is to light Exposure: The amount of light that reaches the sensor Exposure triangle: The balance of aperture, shutter speed and ISO Overexposed: Too much light, picture too bright Underexposed: Too little light, picture too dark Depth of field: How much of the picture is in sharp focus from near to far Shallow depth of field: Only a small part is sharp, background blurry; made with wide aperture Deep depth of field: Most of the picture is sharp; made with small aperture Bokeh: The soft blur of out-of-focus lights in the background Focus: Making the subject look sharp Autofocus: The camera chooses focus automatically Focal length: Distance from lens to sensor in millimeters, deciding how zoomed in the view is Wide-angle lens: Lens that captures a wide scene Telephoto lens: Lens that brings faraway subjects closer Zoom lens: A lens with a changeable focal length Macro lens: Lens for extreme close-ups of small things Fisheye lens: An ultra-wide lens that bends the picture into a bubble look Fast shutter speed: Freezes motion Slow shutter speed: Blurs motion and lets in more light Motion blur: Streaks caused by movement during exposure Panning: Moving the camera with a moving subject to blur the background Long exposure: A slow shutter for light trails or smooth water White balance: Adjusting colors so white looks white under different lights Flash: A burst of light to brighten a scene Natural light: Light from the sun Golden hour: Time just after sunrise or before sunset with warm, soft light Blue hour: Time just before sunrise or after sunset with deep blue light Backlight: Light coming from behind the subject Silhouette: A dark shape of a subject against a bright background Tripod: A three-legged stand that keeps a camera steady Viewfinder: The window you look through to frame the picture Sensor: The part of a digital camera that records light Megapixel: One million pixels, a measure of picture detail Pixel: One tiny dot of a digital image Resolution: The amount of detail in an image RAW: An unprocessed image file with lots of data JPEG: A common compressed image file format DSLR: A digital camera with a mirror and viewfinder (single-lens reflex) Mirrorless camera: A digital camera without a mirror box Composition: How things are arranged in the frame Rule of thirds: Placing the subject along lines splitting the frame in thirds Leading lines: Lines in a scene that lead the eye to the subject Framing: Using objects in the scene to make a frame around the subject Symmetry: Matching halves in a photo Close-up: A picture taken near the subject Wide shot: A picture showing the whole scene Portrait orientation: Taller than wide Landscape orientation: Wider than tall Aspect ratio: The width compared to the height of a picture Crop: Cut away the edges of a picture Contrast (photo): The difference between light and dark areas Saturation (photo): How strong the colors are Candid photo: A natural photo of someone who is not posing Selfie: A photo you take of yourself Photojournalism: Telling news stories with photographs Daguerreotype: An early photograph on a metal plate from 1839 Camera obscura: A dark room or box with a tiny hole that projects an image Ansel Adams: American photographer famous for black and white landscapes of Yosemite Dorothea Lange: American photographer who took Migrant Mother in 1936 Instant camera: A camera that prints the photo right away Black and white photography: Photos with no color, only shades of gray Free flashcards from Peabody at peabody.kids/flashcards/photography-terms