What terminology do you use?

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lrochfort

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Hello all,

I find I use terminology relating to film, shutter and aperture loosely and interchangeably.

May I ask:

What terminology do you use on a daily basis?
What do you deem to be technically correct?
What do you think is clearest/easiest to understand?

For instance I often say "stop down" but is "reduce aperture" more correct? I just think that both are potentially confusing given that one is also increasing the f-stop number.

Cheers,
Laurence
 
The only term that seems to be used ambiguously is in describing image unsharpness when it relates to either:
- blur, caused by relative movement of subject and film plane during the exposure, resulting in a smeared image
- unsharpness, caused by focus in front of, or behind, the film plane, where the degree of unsharpness is noticeable at a certain viewing distance or print size

I've noticed the word blur used to describe focus-related unsharpness. This is the only instance where some confusion commonly arises, in my experience.
 
I use small/large aperture (= size of the hole) or, less often, small/large f number (size of the ratio).

Pretty straightforward and concise...
 
I've never seen anybody use "stop down" to refer to anything other than "closing" the diaphragm. I do however see a lot of people use "diaphragm" and "aperture" interchangeably, but I think we all know what we mean.
 
I think that's the thing, it's clear in my head and the operation of the camera just happens automatically.

However, I'm going to teach someone the mechanics of photography so thought I'd get people's views.

I tend to also say increase/decrease aperture, I think it's makes the most sense to people.
 
lrochfort said:
I think that's the thing, it's clear in my head and the operation of the camera just happens automatically.

However, I'm going to teach someone the mechanics of photography so thought I'd get people's views.

I tend to also say increase/decrease aperture, I think it's makes the most sense to people.
Click to expand...

I find specifically using terms like increase and decrease when talking about aperture is the biggest source of confusion as you are increasing number when decreasing light/size of the aperture and the other way around.

Something like "you need to decrease the aperture to get less light, that is, select a higher number" is very confusing I would say.

"Stop down" though I guess could be considered equally confusing though as it kind of also indicate you are getting less when moving up the number scale.

I think the aperture numbers and the physical size won't make any sense to beginners until it is clearly explained that the number is a fraction of the full size or something along those lines. I mean, those numbers are really just part of an equation, and without the rest it doesn't make any sense why a bigger number means smaller whole. So explaining why it is written as f/2.8 might help clarify why the scale is what appears to be "backwards".

On the other hand, english isn't my first language so my interpretation of things can be somewhat different I imagine.
 
Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure, especially the chapter 'The Photographic Triangle', is a very useful teaching aid for the beginner.
 
kennylovrin said:
I think the aperture numbers and the physical size won't make any sense to beginners until it is clearly explained that the number is a fraction of the full size or something along those lines. I mean, those numbers are really just part of an equation, and without the rest it doesn't make any sense why a bigger number means smaller whole. So explaining why it is written as f/2.8 might help clarify why the scale is what appears to be "backwards".
Click to expand...

+1; I've noticed this very phenomona - confusion until I explain that the aperture markings on the lens are part of an equation; for the sake of simplicity I'll usually call it a fraction or tell them to assume 1/2.8, 1/16, etc. in their minds. You could say the stops are the denominator or "the bottom part of the fraction" for those who've forgotten their grade school math. No doubt most will go "Ah!" and immediatly understand.

I tend to say stop down out long habit; probably open and close would be more clear to newcomers.
 
I don't talk to people about shutter speeds, apertures, etc. Once you understand these things, it's not something that gets discussed... you just do them. Maybe once in awhile photographing "wide open" comes up or speaking about how low you can handhold a shutter speed comes up, but not often. It's all just camera jargon.
 
lrochfort said:
f-stop number...
Click to expand...

... is ALWAY WRONG. The correct term is "f/stop" or in some cases "f/stop number". The punctuation is critical to proper understanding. It is a fraction and must be written with a slash. Also the standard in optical formulas is to us a lower case "f" for focal length so it is always "f/stop" or "f/8" and never "F/stop" or "F/8" with the possible exception of full English sentences where the term begins the sentence.

I never refer to "f/stop number" except when explaining f/stops. I always just use "f/stop". I generally use "stop down" and "open up" when referring to changing the f/stop.

With shutter speeds I refer to them as the fractions they are. The only time I refer to a shutter speed using the denominator only would be when describing the adjustment to a novice saying something like "to set it to 1/125 you turn the dial until the display says '125'".
 
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I do a lot of teaching of Novice members of the photography club I belong to, and I typically use "open up X stop(s)" or "close down X stop(s)" when discussing changes to aperture affecting exposure, and "smaller aperture" or "larger aperture" when discussing changes to aperture that will affect depth of field.
What I find confuses many Novices is the fact that the smaller aperture values denote larger apertures and vice versa.
By explaining that the numbers on the aperture ring are actually fractions so that 1/1.4 denotes a larger aperture than that represented by 1/11, for example, usually clears this up.
Whether my terminology is correct or not is to me, immaterial, as long as it gets the point across.
 
Thanks guys I think I was unduly worried about my lax approach to terminology.

I just sat down with my friend and got him to move the aperture ring and watch the diaphragm open and close.

In the end we ended up saying increase/decrease aperture size because it matches what you see happening and maps to increase/decrease the amount of light.

Like many people said explaining that f-numbers are fractions and so are shutter speeds cleared the mist and helped with reading a light meter.

It all went in quite quickly, now we can both spend a lifetime exploring the artistic side 🙂
 
When I'm using a hand held meter and get some crappy value that's a 1/3 of a stop or whatever away from the clicky things on my camera, I'll go for the nearest half stop. When transferring the reading, if it's going to be, say, between f8 and f11 (flawed syntax noted - don't bother telling me), I'll mutter to myself, "aye, a half over f8 is close enough".

I'm a slob.
 
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