GCSE Photography

Keywords
APERTURE
ARTIFICIAL LIGHT
B&W
BACKGROUND
BACK-LIGHTING
BALANCE
BRACKET or
BRACKETING
CLOSE-UP/MACRO
COMPLEMENTARY
COLOUR
COMPOSITION
CONTRAST
CROPPING
A circle-shaped opening through which light passes to strike the film. The aperture is usually
created by an iris diaphragm that is adjustable, enabling the aperture to be made wider or
narrower, thereby letting in more or less light. The size of the aperture is expressed as an f-
number, like f/8 or f/11.
Illumination that comes from a man-made source, such as electronic flash.
Black and white.
The part of a scene that appears to be furthest from the viewer, behind objects in the foreground.
The area within the viewfinder that is behind the subject of a photograph.
Light directed at the subject from behind the subject.
Compositional harmony of a scene based on the placement of elements of different sizes, shapes
and colours.
A series of pictures, at least three, of the same subject with varying exposures - (1) the main
exposure, which is presumed to be correct, but may not be; (2) a slight overexposure, (3) a
slight underexposure “Bracketed” exposures fall on either side of the exposure that is
presumed to be correct.
Generally, a picture of a subject that fills the frame, with the subject looking particularly close to
the camera. Images of tiny objects in frame-filling, larger-than-life sizes.
A complementary colour is one of a pair of primary or secondary colours that are in opposition to
each other on a colour wheel.
Complementary Colours:
Blue and orange Red and green Yellow and purple
The arrangement of the elements (subject and other objects) in a scene or photograph.
The range of difference between highlights and shadow areas in an image.
Removal of parts of an image in order to improve the image’s composition. Cropping is
sometimes also used in reference to a photographer moving closer to a subject, thereby
eliminating (cropping) unnecessary surrounding elements from the composition.