photographer's answers

S

Secure Digital
Secure Digital (SD). A small memory card which uses flash memory as a base for storing digital photos.
(see Compact Flash)

Safelight
Darkroom lighting, allowing safe handling of light sensitive materials (e.g. deep red for B&W paper).

Saturation
A characteristic of the observation of colour. Saturated colours are called vivid, strong, or deep. Desaturated colours are called dull, weak, or washed out.

Scanning back
High quality digital camera back for Medium or large format cameras which scans in three passes (RGB) one pass for each colour, therefore only used with still life studio subjects.
(see One shot back)

Screen
(see Focusing screen)

Screw mount lens
Lenses with screw mounts are probably still available but these are generally only needed for older cameras, the last popular 35mm SLRs fitted with a screw mount were the Pentax of the late sixties and the Praktica of the early seventies.
(see Bayonet & SLR)

Scrim
Lighting attachment which when placed in front of the lamp reduces its light intensity.

Sharpening
A post production process that increases contrast and adds apparent clarity or sharpness to a digital image. The most common method is called unsharp masking (USM).
(see Post Production & Contrast)

Sheet film
(See Cut film)

Shift
Movement on large format camera (or special "shift lens" in other formats) which can eliminate converging angles.
(see Converging angles, Movements & Rising front)

Shutter
Blades or a curtain that controls the time during which light reaches the film.
(see Focal plane shutter & Between-the-lens Shutter)

Shutter speed
The time in which the shutter stays open to light, measured in fractions of seconds, (1/8000th a second is a very fast shutter speed and 1/2 second is very slow).

Silver Halide
Chemical compound of silver with a halogen. Silver bromide is the principal light sensitive constituent of modern photographic emulsions.
(see Emulsion)

Slave
A photo-electric cell which fires additional flash units simultaneously when it is activated by the light from another flash source set by the camera.

Slide
A photographic trannie (positive) mounted for projection (usually 35mm).
(See Trannie & 35mm)

Slow film
Film which has a limited sensitivity. Such films have low ISO speeds (e.g. 25 or 50 ISO).
(see Fast film, Film speed & ISO)

Slow lens
A lens with a small maximum aperture. (i.e. f8)
(see Aperture & Fast lens)

SLR
(Single Lens Reflex) A Camera in which the photographer views the scene through the same lens that takes the picture thanks to a system of mirrors and prisms.
(see Prism & TLR)

SLT
Single Lens Translucent, is Sony terminology. In a SLT a translucent mirror replaces the usual SLR moving mirror, this splits the light rays from the lens into about two-thirds hitting the CCD, while the rest is reflected onto the autofocus sensor. This allows ultra-fast shooting and accurate auto focus tracking. It has several disadvantages, including that around a third of the light is lost to the AF sensor and that the photographer has to use an 'electronic viewfinder'. The Translucent Mirror is not new, Canon had tried this fast solution in the 60's and 80's with the Canon Pellix and Canon EOS RT.
(see EVIL & CCD)

Smart Media
A wafer-thin sized memory card which uses flash memory as a base for storing digital photos.
(see Compact Flash)

Snoot
Cone-shaped shield used on lights to direct a small patch of light over the subject.

Soft box
A 'framed' diffuser that fits over the Light and creates a more natural soft light.
(see Diffuser)

Soft Lighting
Lighting that is low in contrast, such as on an overcast day.
(see Contrast & Diffuser)

Speed
Sensitivity of a photographic emulsion to light. Films are given ISO numbers which denotes its speed. The term is also used to denote the maximum aperture of a lens.
(see Fast film, Fast lens, Film speed, Slow film, Slow lens & ISO)

Spill kill
An attachment on a Mains Flash unit (when using a brolly) that stops the spill of light to the sides and possibly indirectly onto the subject.
(see Brollies & Mains flash)

Spot meter
Narrow-angle exposure meter used to take accurate reflected light readings from a small area of a subject; can also be useful when the photographer is some distance away from the subject.
(see Exposure meter)

Standard
The Standards (front & back) of a large format camera where you perform the "movements". These movements allow the photographer to manipulate the photograph.
(see Monorail, Movements & Technical)

Standard lens
A lens that makes the image in a photo appear in perspective similar to the original scene. It has a focal length approximately equal to the diagonal of the film format with which it is used (e.g. 50mm with 35mm cameras). Also known as a normal lens.
(see Format, Tele, Wide & Zoom)

Stop down
Changing the lens aperture to a smaller opening; for example, from f4 to f5.6. This increases depth of field.
(see Aperture, Depth of field, f-stop & Wide open)

Stop
(see Aperture & f-stop)

Stop
An acid rinse, usually a solution of acetic acid, whose purpose is to stop development by neutralizing unwanted developer when processing black-and-white film or paper.
(see Dev.)

Strobe
Generic term for electronic flash.

Stroboscopic Flash
Stroboscopic or Repeating Flash is a 'mode' available on some flashguns where under certain lighting conditions it can produce multiple exposures in a single frame. A good use of this feature would be 'the swing of a golfer' or the movement of a bouncing ping pong ball .

Swimming Pool
There are various unusual names given to large photographic lights, including 'Fishfryers' & 'Eggcrates', a swimming pool is usually a large overhead light often used in automotive photography and is suspended from the studio ceiling or attached to a large boom stand.

Swing
Swing, the movable front(lens) and back (film) panels (standards) of most view and monorail cameras. This allows the photographer to manipulate the perspective and depth of field.
(see Depth of field, Monorail, Movements, & Standard)

Synchronized flash
(see Flash sync.)

Syncro Sun
A term used to describe a combination of sunlight and flash light, where flash is used as a fill-in. The camera is set to synchronize the flash at shutter speed which would also allow the sunlight to register and not overexpose, usually using the fastest shutter speed available (e.g. 1/250th).
(see Flash sync., Balanced Fill Flash)

Synthetic Aperture Photography
SAP or “digital refocusing”. By taking an appropriate number of samples using the microlens array in a Light-field camera, a computer can devise the probable view that would be captured by a traditional camera with a large aperture. This essentially allows the photographer to refocus a snapshot after it has been captured, It works best in macrophotography, where the scene is close to the camera.
(see Aperture, Macrophotography, Microlens, Light-field camera)

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