A type of auto exposure
system where the user chooses the aperture value s/he wants (f/5.6 for
example)
and the camera chooses the shutter speed for the correct exposure. This is
the mode used by many photographers because it allows for control of selective
focus. You enable it using the 'Av' mode
on Canon EOS cameras. See
also shutter-priority
auto exposure and program auto exposure.
available light photography
Photography without the
use of supplementary lighting (such as flashes, strobes, or hotlights). Some
people allow the use of diffusers and reflectors within the genre of available
light.
beri beri
A rare form of nutritional
deficiency that used to be common among prisoners of war, the pioneers, and
sailors. Now commonly found among photoethnographers subsisting on ramen
noodles.
bounce flash
Bouncing the specular
light of your portable flashgun off a ceiling, wall, or reflector in order
to make it more diffuse and softer. Your flash should have a Guide Number
(GN) of more than 100' / 33 meters to be effective. Be careful when
bouncing off ceilings, two common mistakes are: 1) the ceiling
is
so high
that the
poor
flash
doesn't
have a chance; 2) the ceiling is an off-white color which will give your
photographs a color tinge.
Bridezilla
What wedding photographers call their more earnest clients. See MOB. This
should go by way of cautioning budding photoethnographers away from the wedding
photography business as a way of avoiding ramen noodles.
chimping
The habit of digital photographers to review their previous shots while holding their cameras at arms length and go "Oooh ooh aah aahh." Meanwhile, whatever they are photographing continues to go on and they are missing all of it.
circular polarizer
See polarizer.
copyright
Copyright protects documents,
images, and other artistic creations from unauthorized copying and distribution.
If you find this list anywhere except Photoethnography.com, please contact
me for a sizable reward from the civil copyright violation proceedings.
diffuse
The opposite of specular.
directing
Telling a subject where
to stand or pose. Directing is considered bad form in documentary photography
and photoethnography.
dragging the shutter
Handheld photography
using a
low-shutter speed (1/5 - 1/15 sec) and following the movement of the subject
while releasing the shutter. Much easier done on a rangefinder than a SLR.
Often, fill-in flash is used to give the subject extra pop. When
done skillfully, can give a sharp central subject with wonderful motion
blur in the background.
Febreze®
A wonderful spray-on odor neutralizer made by Proctor and Gamble. great for removing tobacco and cheap-perfume smells from your clothes after spending all night in a seedy jazz cafe. Or the fine bouquet of not-so-fresh fish after going to the Tsukiji central fish market in Tokyo. Or your own ripe scent after spending 3 days on a paparazzi stake-out of Prince Williams.
fill-in flash
The use of the flash
as a secondary light source to the primary natural lighting.This has the effect
of filling in unsightly shadows caused by harsh direct sunlight such as around
the eyes, under the nose, or under hat brims. Used on natural objects, fill-in
flash has the effects of making things seem more colorful. It can also be
used to give a reflective glint to animal eyes.
Fill-in flash is most often achieved by setting a -1 or -2 stop override on
dedicated TTL flashes.Fill-in flash on generic flashes usually requires a
flashmeter and is non-trivial.
fixed focal length lens
A lens system that only
has one focal length (as opposed to a zoom lens). These can be
made bright, contrasty, and optically well-corrected without having to
resort to
exotic glass formulations or aspheric lens elements. Fixed focal length lenses
will always be superior to zoom lenses if made out of the same optical
materials
and standards. Also called prime lenses.
focal plane shutter
This is the usual shutter
mechanism on 35mm SLR cameras. A metal, foil, or cloth curtain is located
right in front of the film (the focal plane). When the shutter is released,
the curtain opens up for an instand before a second curtain closes and blocks
the light. At high speeds (greater than the X-sync speed), there is not enough
time for the entire frame to be exposed at the same time. Instead, the first
and second curtains form a small slit which moves across the film plane. The
fastest speed that can be chosen and yet still show the entire film plane
at the same time is your X-sync speed. Any faster and a flash would only exposure
the small portion of the film revealed by the curtain slit.
Most focal plane shutters are found on 35mm SLRs are multi-blade vertical shutter assemblies that are extremely fast and reliable. However, there are some
anomalies: the Leica M series uses a horizontal-travel cloth focal plane shutter despite being a rangefinder
(and thus results in the embarassingly low 1/30 X-sync speed); the Hasselblad 200F series also uses a horizontal travel cloth curtain.
grab shot
A photograph taken without
the subject's awareness (literally grabbed). Frowned upon by most
photoethnographers because of the lack of informed consent .
hot light
A studio light consisting
of an incandescent, halogen, fluorescent, or other bulb that remains on.
Because of the heat generated by theses systems, which are often rated
at over 1000 watts, they are very hot. Models do not like them because
they can get uncomfortable. Studio photographers also struggled with color-balancing
the hotlights, which range in color temperature from 3000-5000 kelvins.
Now that most digital SLRs have built-in color temperature adjustments,
this is not as much of an issue. However, melting makeup still is. Make
sure you do not have anything flammable in front of a hotlight!
Ensuring that the informant
knows that their photograph will be taken and may be used in academic and
artistic use. This is most simply attained by orally asking, "Excuse
me, I'm a photoethnographer, may I take your photograph please?" Handing
a business card with your e-mail address is good etiquette. Having a model release is iron-clad but may also be overkill.
leaf shutter
Also known as an in-lens
shutter or lens shutter. The shutter mechanism is located
inside the lens unit. It is made of overlapping leaves (thus leaf shutter)
that instantenously
open and close at the moment of taking the photo. The advantage of leaf shutters
is that they can synchronize with electronic flash at all speeds. The
disadvantages
are that they have a limited top speed (usually 1/500 is the max) and at
their higher speeds may interact non-intuitively with the aperture
used. Most fixed-lens
rangefinders use leaf shutters; interchangeable lens rangefinders like the
Leica/Canon or
Contax/Nikon use focal plane shuttters.
Some medium format SLRs such as the Mamiya
RB and RZ and Hasselblad
500 series use leaf shutters. They are favored by wedding and studio
photographers because they can use fill-in flash at all shutter
speeds.
lens shutter
See leaf shutter.
linear polarizer
See polarizer.
MOB
Wedding photographerese:
Mother of the Bride.The MOB is a dreaded creature and the primary reason
you
should never think of using wedding photography to subsidize your photoethnography.
See Bridezilla.
model release
A legal form signed by
models allowing their likeness to be used in print form for advertising and
other non-editorial usage. Most photoethnography is used editorially and does
not require a model release, however there are some exceptions. If you want to sell your photographs to a stock photography agency for advertising use, for example, you will need model releases. There are some sample model releases here.
photoethnography
The art and science of
representing other culturals visually.
polarizer
A piece of glass or plastic
with very fine etchings on it that has the effect of cutting out light with
a certain orientation or polarization. Most often used to reduce (or sometimes
increase) the amount of specular reflection on a subject. You can use a polarizer
to make a car have deeper, richer color because you've blocked off all of
the shiny (specular) light shining off the glossy coat. You can use it to
make coastal tide pools appear transparent or alternately make the water shine
like a mirror. Polarizers are often used to make the sky turn dark blue or
black or to make people's skin appear softer. They sound like a miracle in
a box but you lose 1/2 to 2 stops of light by using it. Linear polarizers are the original kind of polarizers. They simpy cut
out light coming from one orientation and leave the other orientation untouched.
This uniformly polarized light the unfortunately effect of playing havoc with
the autofocus and autoexposure sensors on modern SLRs. Which is why... Circular polarizers were invented to cure the problem with linear polarizers
and autofocus/autoexposure. They have an extra layer in the polarizer sandwhich
which "twists" the polarized light as it emerges through the polarizer
so it doesn't screw up your camera. Always buy circular polarizers unless
you're using an old-fashioned rangefinder.
Polaroid Corporation
A company with great
products but absolutely horrendous marketing. The opposite of Microsoft Corporation.
posing
Telling a subject where
to stand or move their limbs. See directing.
prime lens
See fixed focal length lens.
program auto exposure
An idiot-mode where
the camera picks the appropriate aperture and shutter speed for the photograph
chosen. No self-respecting photographer would ever admit to being in 'P'
or 'Green Square' mode even if mysteriously, that is the most worn down dial setting on their camera. See also aperture priority auto exposure and shutter
priority auto exposure.
property release
A legal form signed by property owners allowing the likeness of the property to be used in print form for advertising and other non-editorial usage. Most photoethnography is used editorially and does not require a property release, however there are some exceptions. If you want to sell your photographs to a stock photography agency for advertising use, for example, you will need property releases. There are some sample property releases here.
ramen noodles
What many photoethnographers
eat while they are still trying to get established.Available in chicken,
soy sauce, vegetable, and shrimp flavor, ramen noodles can often be purchased
5 for $1 or about 20¢ each, which is just about the cheapest 'meal' you
can have. See also beri beri.
rangefinder
A type of focusing aid
which uses parallax difference to ascertain the distance to the subject.
Coupled
rangefinders connect the rangefinder distance gauge directly to the camera
lens, so that when the rangefinder is in focus so is the camera. Uncoupled
rangefinders merely give you a distance reading which you must then transfer
onto the camera lens. The Leica M series is the most widely known rangefinder
series.In the 1950s and 1960s, rangefinders were much more popular than they
are now, with most major manufacturers producing rangefinder cameras (Canon,
Contax, Minolta, Nikon, Kuribayashi
Petri, Ricoh,
Zeiss, etc.) In the 1970s, single-lens reflex cameras (SLRs) became
much more
popular and eclipsed the rangefinders. Rangefinders are now experiencing
a second boom in the form of newer models from Voigtlander/Cosina,
Fuji, Konica,
Rollei, Hasselblad X-Pan, etc. See here for a comparison
of focusing systems.
reflective light
The light reflecting
off a subject towards the camera lens. Also see incident light.
selective focus
Using a wide aperture
(f/1.4 or f/2.8) to narrow the depth of field plane so that only key elements
of the photograph are in focus. This draws the viewers attention to the areas
that the photographer selects.
shutter-priority auto
exposure
A type of auto exposure
system where the user selects the shutter speed that she wants (1/500
for
example) and the camera automatically selects the proper aperture for that
photograph. Most often used by photographers shooting moving objects which
they want to blur or hold still by using a certain shutter speed. Pioneered
in the Konica Auto S. You
select using the 'Tv'
mode on Canon EOS cameras.
See also dragging the shutter, aperture priority auto exposure, and
program auto exposure.
single lens reflex (SLR)
camera
A camera design which
uses only one lens system as both the focusing and taking lens. A mirror in
the camera box reflects the image from the lens upwards onto a focusing screen.
A waist-level finder allows you to view the image from above. Most SLRs however
use a pentaprism to further bounce the image around until it emerges parallel
to the taking lens through an eye-level viewfinder. See here for a comparison
of focusing systems.
specular
The opposite of diffuse.
straight photography
There is much contention
over the use of this word. Many photographers define it as photography
without
manipulation. Others would contend that in itself is impossible as the very
choice as to what is "manipulation." The simple definition
would be photography without the use of any use of artificial lighting, posing
of subjects, use of props, or darkroom / Photoshop manipulation beyond contrast/brightness
adjustment.
sugar mommy/daddy
What 98% of photoethnographers
not subsisting on ramen noodles have, but would never admit.
T* lens coating
A trademark of Zeiss,
it's a patented multi-layer (up to seven) lens coating process that is rumored to have magical
qualities of improving your images while reducing your bank account.
Tri-X (Kodak)
An amazing ISO 400 black
and white film first introduced in 1954 by Kodak. Has a texture that cannot
be duplicated easily. It's unsure whether this is a feature or a bug. It was redesigned and rereleased in 2004 to howls of protest from photographers who conveniently forgot that it's been constantly redesigned and reformulated in its 50 year history.
twin lens reflex (TLR)
camera
A camera design that
uses separate taking lens and focusing lens mounted one above the other in
a single unit. The Rolleiflex cameras are the most famous example. The focusing
lens on the top is mounted so that the image bounces off an internally mounted
mirror to a focusing screen on the top of the camera. You view the image from
above using a waist-level viewfinder (and in rare cases, a pentaprism eye-level
viewfinder).The bottom lens system is the taking lens. The film plane is located
at exactly the same distance from the taking lens as the focusing mirror is
from the focusing lens. Moving two lens systems back and forth with the focusing
knob controls both. When the top focusing lens is in focus, you take the photo
with the bottom taking lens which usually used a leafshutter lens. See
here for a comparison
of focusing systems. TLRs have some advantages and disadvantages:
Pros: Light, quiet,
simple, cheap to manufacture medium format camera systems.
Cons: Most TLRs do
not have interchangeable lenses (Mamiya C330 is the counterexample), the
cheaper units suffered from parallax error at close distances. TLRs cannot
be built as small as SLRs or rangefinders. Also most TLRs used medium
format film and with the demise of medium format as a general consumer
film with the transition to 35mm, the rationale for TLRs diminished.
U/V filter
A 15¢ piece of
plate glass sold to you for $25-50 by an unscrupulous dealer to "protect
the lens"
and to pad their profits. Serves no known optical function.** Lens protection
is not needed if you normally use a lens hood. However, U/V filters have
been
known to protect lenses against the dreaded 2-Year Old with Peanut Butter
& Jelly Sandwhich Syndrome (2YO-PBJS) in which jelly is smeared over
your precious APO ASPH T* lens and you are reverted back to eating ramen noodles.
** Think about it. If an additional piece of glass could
really improve a
$500 lens, don't you think Canon/Nikon/Zeiss would build it into each lens
they sell?
zoom lens
Lenses that are capable
of changing their focal length in real time. This is an extraordinarily complicated
optical trick and most consumer lenses do a poor job of it. Until you have
eaten enough ramen noodles to afford a professional zoom lenses (usually
those > $1000), stick with fixed focal length lenses.
