Photography Lingo in French

Darkhorse

Darkhorse

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Hello all,
I'll be heading to Paris in April. For work, although there may be time for some minor sightseeing. I will be doing some photography there, and may have to train some individuals who don't speak English very well in the ways of some of the photography that I'll be doing.

I speak some French, although I am a bit rusty. I'm not familiar with photography terms however. Could anyone give me some vocabulary tips?
 
Well, all the basics.
Shutter, aperture and/or ƒ stop, viewfinder, lens, focal length, [LCD] screen, USB cabled, all the basic digital camera parts essentially.

Something more complicated:
Copy stand, copy lights, camera shake, bracketing, highlights/shadows, "blown out" as in a blown out highlight, fill light, kicker light. Things like this.
 
Hey, I'll be there at the same time, burning through as much film as possible! Have a great trip.

Lens = objectif, and tele lens = téléobjectif. I tend to remember those because it's such a cool word.
 
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Obturateur (Shutter)

But it sounds so much like a political insult

Profondeur de champ (Depth of field)

But it sounds so much like a joke

Both from a limited vocabulary, but they work.

USB is USB, pronounced Oooo Ess Bay, but I don't know if you need a fil (fee, wire) or cable (caaarbl, cable).

Amitiés,

R.
 
Off-topic: Hi Roger! Your photo journals of Arles are directly responsible for my trip planning going into high gear for this spring. I first clicked two weeks ago, and started researching flights that night. Thank you!
 
Aperture : diaphragme or ouverture de diaphragme
speed : vitesse
shutter speed : vitesse d'obturation
shutter : obturateur
lens: objectif
manual focus: mise au point manuelle
autofocus : autofocus
to focus : mettre au point
rangefinder camera : appareil télémétrique
rangefinder : télémètre
exposure : exposition
metering : mesure de la lumière
subject : sujet
out of focus : flou
sharp / in focus : net
depth of field : profondeur de champ
wide angle : grand angle
telephoto : téléobjectif
film : pellicule
digital : numérique
overexposed : sur-exposé
underexposed : sous-exposé

Let me know if you think of something else.

Cheers
 
gekopaca said:
No it isn't!

téléobjectif is long-focus lens (telephoto lens)
zoom is…zoom
Click to expand...

Sacré bleu, mon vieux! Are you sure there isn't a longer way to say 'zoom'? The Academy exists to preserve such things! Yesterday I discovered that my (bilingual) 20-year-old adopted daughter had never heard the term "avion à reaction" (she thought it was 'jet'), and I must be the last person in France to say 'télécopieur' instead of 'fax'.

Recevez, je vouis prie, cher Monsieur, l'assurance de mes sentiments les plus distingués...

Cheers,

R.
 
tlitody said:
Just checking. Knowing the French I thought they would have their own french word for it.
Click to expand...

I thought the English would have their own too ("boke" is a japanese word) ;-)

"flou d'arrière-plan"? (never used)

interesting :
"la minceur de champ" (Roland Barthes in " la chambre claire")
 
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My all time favorite French(Canadian) word is "tabernac".

I use it when I forget to change shutter speed or aperture ring setting when the light changes and I already pressed the shutter button.:bang:
 
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