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STM

What Does STM Mean On A Canon Lens? Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM When you see a Canon lens with STM in the name, it means that it features Canon’s Stepper Motor technology. Canon introduced this motor design to be a quieter and smoother focus system that allows for near-silent focusing during video recording. When Canon’s lenses were first designed many years ago, DSLRs could not shoot video so there was no need for them to be extremely quiet. These days, not only do Canon’s DSLRs and mirrorless cameras shoot video, but they also have the Cinema EOS line of movie …

Stock Photography

What Is Stock Photography and How Is It Used in the Photography Industry? In the photography industry the term ‘stock photography’ refers to capturing of images which are to be managed by a stock photography agency. These photographs are then supplied under licence from the agency to third party outlets who can then use the images in their own products. Stock images are often licensed for specific uses, and depending on the quality of the image the rights to use a specific image can cost a third-party anywhere from 25 Cents to tens -of-thousands of dollars. Stock photographs can be …

Stop

What to We Mean by a Stop When Talking About Photography When talking about photography a ‘Stop’ is a unit of measurement used to describe each step of opening or closing a lens’ aperture. On lens’ with an aperture ring a stop can be thought of as one physical click of the aperture ring. One stop is equal to one EV and they relate to the following values: 1.8, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, 64. A lower number refers to a wider aperture, great for shooting in low light conditions but prone to a loss of …

Stopping Down

What Does Stopping Down Refer to When Talking About Photography? When taking photography, ‘stopping down’ refers to the process of narrowing the aperture within a lens to increase the sharpness of the image being captured. when a photographer stops down a lens they increase the aperture value, limiting the amount of light allowed to pass through the lens, and on to the image sensor of film. The ability to stop down is dependant on the conditions within which a photographer is shooting, low light conditions require wider apertures and stopping down in these situations could lead to under-exposure. supplemental lighting …

Strobist

What Is A Strobist? The word strobist originates from the blog of photographer, David Hobby. David’s blog, http://www.strobist.com, primarily discussed off-camera flash lighting techniques. Strobists are therefore usually characterized by their usage of hot shoe flashes (sometimes called speedlights), to light their images. The Strobist blog contains a wealth of knowledge on off-camera flash techniques and whilst it appears that it is no longer updated as often as it once was, the name ‘Strobist’ has stuck within the photography community. These days the term has also begun to broaden and include usage of other types of larger strobes, thanks in-part to …

Studio

What Is a Photography Studio and How Is It Used When Taking Photographs? A photography studio is a workspace specifically designed and built for the purpose of taking photographs. In it’s basic form a studio will feature a well lit space with a blank backdrop to allow the capturing of images in an environment free from obtrusive external light sources. The required lighting for an image can then be ‘built’ by the photographer using lighting equipment and subject placement. Professional photography studios are jam packed with the most expensive photography, lighting and editing equipment, providing photographer with all the equipment and …

Subject Distance

What Does the Term Subject Distance Mean When Talking About Photography? In photography subject distance is the distance between the focal plane of a camera and the subject being photographed. Knowing the subject distance of a scene can be extremely useful when choosing the correct equipment required to capture an image; When working with subjects at close distances it is extremely important to choose a lens with an MFD which is less than the subject distance (providing the subject will be the object of focus). In this situation a lens with an MFD greater than the subject distance will not …

Sync Cord

What Is a Sync Cord and How Is It Used in Photography? When taking photography that require supplemental lighting such as fill flash, a ‘sync cord’ is an electrical cable which connects a camera directly to a flash unit to allow the use of flash synchronisation. A signal is sent from the camera to the flash unit via the sync chord when the shutter button is pressed. This signal instructs the flash to fire at the exact moment required to produce the required lighting within an image. Sync cords are extremely reliable but require the camera to be directly connected …