There are a lot of things to know when it comes to photography terminology. And there is also a difference between knowing what things mean, and being able to apply them. We’re going to talk about that a little bit in this article. When I started this site, I wrote about photography terminology. And today, I’m revamping that piece with a bit.

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Shutter Speed – This is how long your camera’s shutter stays open and it can be read on either the back of your screen or within the viewfinder. It is typically a fraction or a whole number.

For example:

1/15 = a fifteenth of a second

1/1000= a thousandth of a second

1”= 1 second

15” = fifteen seconds

Here are the basic rules to follow:

The longer the shutter speed the more motion will be captured and the stiller you need to remain. This is great for capturing nighttime scenes.

The faster the shutter speed the less motion will be captured. This is great for capturing fast-moving objects like sports action.

The longer the shutter speed, the more the camera is going to pick up on your shaky hands. So you’ll get the effects of camera shake. Image stabilization can help with this, but the best thing to do is use a tripod or hold the camera in an efficient way.

On your camera, this can be seen with the S mode.

Aperture – This is also known as F stop. It controls how much of your image is in focus or not (what is clear and what is blurry). It also controls how much light comes into the lens of your camera and hits the sensor (the equivalent of film).

In general:

f1.4 = Enables high shutter speeds – not much is in focus

f2.8 = Enables almost as high shutter speeds – more is in focus (great for portraits)

f11 = Needs slower shutter speeds – much more is in focus

f22 = Needs the slowest of shutter speeds – everything you point your lens at should be in focus (best used with a flash unless there is tons of bright light available)

If you have a smartphone or a drone, it most likely won’t have a variable aperture; it will be locked at one setting because the sensor is so small. It’s a bit useless to have a working aperture. So the blur is created using software.

On your camera this is also known as AV mode.

Bokeh – Bokeh can mean a few things. Colloquially, it will refer to the quality of the out-of-focus area in a photo. But it’s been adapted into the vernacular to just mean the out of focus area. Various things affect the bokeh. The coatings on the lens elements can add more or less contrast. More contrast can sometimes mean that your subject pops out from the background. We’ve typically seen Leica Apochromatic lenses lend some of that special “pop.” And the number of aperture blades also affects bokeh. The fewer aperture blades there are, the less pleasing the bokeh balls in the background can be, but this also depends on the focal length.

Depth of Field – This is what is the range of distance within the subject that is acceptably in focus. It can be controlled using aperture.

ISO – Light sensitivity of your camera’s sensor. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive your camera will be to light and the grainier your images will be. The lower the ISO, the less sensitive the camera will be to light and the less grainier your images will be. Higher ISOs allow for faster shutter speeds.

ISO 100 = great for daylight use, no image grain

ISO 400 = great for twilight use, a bit more grain

ISO 1600 = much more suited towards low light or high action where you need to stop fast movement

ISO 6400 = even better suited towards low light and fast action, but delivers grainy images

In recent years, cameras have gotten so good that ISO 6400 can print images at 17×22 inches with little to no grain. ISO is something that’s more flexible with digital cameras than it is on film. With film emulsions, you typically have to shoot at the same ISO for the entire roll.

Manual – A shooting mode on your camera that ena...