S Archives - Page 2 of 4

Sensor Size

What Is Sensor Size and What Does It Mean When Talking About Photography? In photography sensor size describes the physical dimensions of a sensor. Sensor size can be measured in mm or inches. For example a ‘full frame’ sensor measures 36 x 24mm and a ‘micro four thirds’ or ‘4/3’ sensor measures 17 x 13mm. Sensor size relates to the physical dimensions of the sensor itself, not its imaging area. Sensor size can dramatically effect the overall quality of the sensor’s output. If we compare a full frame 20mp sensor with a 1″ 20mp sensor. The smaller dimensions of the 1″ …

Sepia

What Does Sepia Mean When Talking About Photography? The term Sepia, when used in the context of photography refers to a monochrome image rendered in brown tones rather than the greyscale tones used in a traditional black and white image. Sepia images were originally produced by adding a pigment to a positive print while exposing an image captured on film. Sepia gets it’s name from the Sepia cuttlefish, Ink from the fish was used to create the brown dye used to alter the tone of Sepia images. In digital photography an image can be transformed into a Sepia image using …

Sequence

Have you ever wandered what people are talking about when they mention a sequence while talking about photography? Here’s the answer, and how to create them.

Shadow

What Does Shadow Mean When Talking About Photography? When talking about photography the term ‘shadow’ is used to describe the darkest parts of an image. Shadow is often rendered in black tonal values but when exposed correctly is still able to contain large amounts of detail; Capturing the balance between shadow detail and highlight detail is one of the cornerstones of taking a well exposed image. Manipulation of the lighting and exposure of shadow within an image can be used to add or remove darkness from a scene, dramatically altering the overall feel and depth of a photograph. Techniques such …

Shadow Detail

What Is Shadow Detail When Talking About Photography? In photography ‘shadow detail’ refers to the detail rendered in the darkest parts of an image. Capturing shadow detail can be extremely challenging, especially when being captured in an image which includes a lot of highlights or high overall dynamic range. Shadow detail exists on the extreme fringes of contrast, and creating a balance between shadow detail and highlights is one of the most basic challenges of capturing a well exposed image; Expose too much and highlights will be overexposed, expose too little and shadow detail will be completely lost, get it …

Sharpness

What Does Sharpness Mean When Talking About Photography? When talking about photography ‘sharpness’ refers to an image’s overall clarity in terms of both focus and contrast. When the subject of an image is sharp the image appears clear and lifelike, with detail, contrast and texture rendered in high detail. Images which lack sharpness or are ‘soft’ can appear blurry and lacking in detail, although experienced photographers are able to manipulate sharpness to allow a feeling of warmth or movement within an image. Image sharpness is extremely reliant on achieving accurate focus on a desired subject, especially challenging when shooting scenes …

Sheet Film

What Is Sheet Film and What Is It Used for in Photography? In photography ‘sheet film’ refers to a medium or large format of film, mainly used in view cameras and supplied in individual sheets rather than the rolls typically used for 35mm format film. Sheet film was originally devised as an alternative to glass plates and each individual piece is manufactured from polyester or acetate film. The most commonly used sheet film format is 4 x 5 inches, but larger sizes are also still available for those still using large format view cameras. An exposure is captured on sheet …

Shift Lens

What Is A Shift Lens? A shift lens is similar to a tilt-shift lens, except that it lacks the tilt mechanism. For a detailed look at both shift and tilt mechanisms, please view the tilt-shift lens glossary entry.

Shutter

What Do We Mean by a Shutter and How Is It Used in Photography? In a camera the shutter is the mechanism which controls the length of time the camera sensor or film is exposed to the light entering through the lens. When the shutter button is pressed by the photographer the shutter opens for the amount of time set in the cameras exposure settings. When the shutter is open the camera sensor or film are exposed to light which is captured to produce an image. Open the shutter for too long and the image will be over exposed, open …

Shutter Lag

What Does Shutter Lag Mean When Talking About Photography? The term shutter lag refers to the delay between pressing the shutter button and a photograph actually being recorded by the camera and is measured in milliseconds (ms). Knowing the shutter lag of your camera is extremely important when attempting to capture fast moving subjects such as those encountered in wildlife or sports photography; If you depress the shutter release button at the instant of the event you wish to capture you may find that, due to shutter lag, you have missed that crucial moment in time. Knowing your camera’s shutter …