Photography Lecture Notes

Practice flashcards covering key concepts in photography from camera basics to historical developments.

Camera Obscura

A dark room or box where light passes through a small hole and projects an inverted image of the outside scene.

Focal Length

The distance between the lens and the sensor, affecting magnification and field of view.

Telephoto Lens

A lens that compresses space, making objects appear closer together, flattening depth.

Shutter Speed

Controls how long the camera’s sensor is exposed to light, affecting motion blur or freezing motion.

Aperture

The opening of a lens that controls the amount of light reaching the sensor, impacting depth of field.

ISO

Controls the camera’s sensitivity to light, with higher ISO resulting in a brighter image but more grain/noise.

Halftone Printing

A technique that recreates images using tiny dots to simulate shades, allowing photographs to be printed in mass media.

Rule of Thirds

A composition tool where the subject is placed in a third of the frame or on the intersecting lines.

Composition Elements

Light, Line, Shape, Texture, Perspective.

S-Curve

A compositional technique that guides the viewer’s eye through the image, creating movement and flow.

Migrant Mother

A famous photograph by Dorothea Lange depicting the struggles of American life during the Great Depression.

Calotypes

An early photographic process that created negatives, allowing for multiple print copies.