iPHONEOGRAPHY 101: TERMINOLOGY

Welcome to the wonderful world of iPhoneography! You’ve probably heard that term thrown around for a while now. You’re wondering what the heck that means. And while you should never hire an iPhoneographer for your wedding, it’s a safe bet for your everyday life. The cute dog photos and food, oh and probably your kids. It’s basically lifestyle photography only with your Phone.

Because the best camera is the one you have with you. Seriously.

This post is going to cover some basic lingo and terms you may run across in the next two (or three?) posts. They will not be in alphabetical order.

iPhonephotography: The art of using your iPhone to capture the world around you. Everyone’s style is different. It’s about finding that part of you that you love and expressing it through photos. 

iPhoneographer: That’s you buddy.

Lifestyle Photography: The art of everyday life.

Aperture: The size of the hole in your lens/the amount of light that hits your sensor. ie. 2.4 is wide open and lets in the most light. The smaller the number the less depth of field you get.

Exposure: The length of time your lens is open and your sensor receives light/data. ex. 1/100 of a second.

PPI: The amount of pixels in every square inch.

Megapixels: A unit of measurement which represents one million pixels — those tiny dots of color which make up an image.

Resolution: Is simply the physical number of columns and rows of pixels creating the display.

Tap to focus: When you tap your screen to focus on a single point. Left to its own devices our phones will often focus the whole image, or try to, resulting in middling focus and over all blahness.

Composition: is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art, as distinct from the subject of a work.

Rule of Thirds: Can be broken. Occasionally. It’s that grid on your screen. More, HERE.

Golden Ratio: The Valhalla of art. Using math to make art more pleasing to the eye. Art for Math Geeks. When that art looks divine and you have no idea why, this is why.

Burst Exposure: When your phone take many photos very quickly. Usually used to action shots, annoying husbands and HDR.

Fill Light: Using a continuous light source to artificially light your object.

DSLR: Digital single-lens reflex, a camera that uses a sensor instead of film to record data.

Blown Highlights: When the highlights or bright parts of your photo are hot or white and hold no data.

Bokeh: Is blur. And how your camera records it, depending on what you’re are photographing.

Depth of field: how far back in your plane of vision is in focus. Is your whole photo in focus or just a point?

ISO: International Organization of Standardization, or how sensitive your sensor/film is to light. High ISO means more noise.

Metadata: Data your photo retains that you don’t see. Such as camera info, ISO, shutter speed, and geotagging.

Noise: At a high iso, usually in low light you get noise, or grain. Also what happens when you over edit, or take a dark photo and make it lighter/brighter.

Pixel: The little dots that together make up a photo. When you super blow up a photo they are square.

Shutter Speed: How fast your shutter/lens/sensor opens and closes receiving light.

Ghosting: A slow shutter speed + movement = ghosting. Also, camera shake.

HDR: High-dynamic-range. When your camera take two or three photos at once and merges them. It exposes for the highlights, mid-tones and shadows. Then makes them into one amazing photo that has tons of detail.

 Whew! I think that's about it for now. If you don't see a term you want to know, tell me and I'll add it. I'll see you tomorrow for Part two: 102 Cameras and Apps.