"Normal" professional photographer terms and what they mean to lay people. This is 4th article in a series about commercial photography.

The lingo photographers use can be confusing to a client. This is a guide to common words and phrases to make this easier to understand.

The Talent: Models and/or Actors. People hired to be in front of the camera to be filmed with a still or a motion camera.

The Crew: This means "Behind the camera" professional people that are needed to support the photographer. Crew can include: The photographer's assisting crew: lead or 1st assistant, 2nd assistant or more, location scout, producer, digital technician, prop maker, BTS crew (Behind The Scenes filming crew, becoming more and more important in generating more social media content) and the "Styling" crew: Make up artist, hair stylist, wardrobe stylist, set stylist, food stylist. Descriptions are below.

"The crew" can either in whole or in part travel with the photographer or hired locally.

Makeup artist, hair stylist, wardrobe stylist.These are members of the "Styling Crew or Team". Makeup artist and hair stylist are self explanatory. Wardrobe stylist is responsible in acquiring and then using: shirts, jackets, coats, pants, shoes, hats, scarves, dresses, skirts, swimwear, gloves, jewelry etc. This could be for any photographic project where people need to look their best. Generally speaking this is for a fashion or beauty shoot, a high end lifestyle shoot, resort shoot or a corporate shoot.

A makeup artist touching up Caitlin, a fashion model we hired in Milan, Italy for a project shot in Milan, Como and around Lake Como, Italy. Same model and location used in the top image.

From the left: A model, the wardrobe stylist, the makeup artist and my producer at a shoot styling the model.

My producer found a small hotel in Nashville where we were able to book every room on the same floor, a HUGE help. This shows just how much wardrobe can be used on a shoot. We rented one hotel room just for the wardrobe. This was for a 2 day shoot.

Digital tech. This is a trained technician that will inspect photos, in almost real time, as they are taken to be sure the exposure is correct, the contrast range is within limits, the focus is correct and also will check the wardrobe for issues and will call attention to any other problems they see. Normally this is when the photographer is shooting tethered, see below.

Tethered or shoot tethered. This is when there is either a cable or wireless transmitter connected from the camera to a computer and monitor so the client and crew can see photos the photographer is shooting in almost real time.

Lead assistant. Also called the 1st assistant. This is someone who will usually travel with the photographer to/from a job and will assist the photographer in their work and will also direct the rest of the photography assisting crew.

2nd, 3rd, 4th (or more assistants). These are extra photographer assistants, frequently will be hired locally, sometimes will also travel with the main crew. These are the people who help move gear, load/unload the equipment in/out of the vehicles, help setup stands, lights, run extension cords, test strobes and ensure all strobes are firing every shot, setup 12 by 12 silk frames, go get coffee for the crew/clients, strike and pack the set, move the gear from one location to the next. Most will know what a 50mm lens is by a glance, know what a Pocket Wizard is, and how to use it, know what a "C" stand is, what a flag is, what a light meter is, and really good ones will also look for and solve problems.

Producer. This is a detail centric and well organized person who will remain calm in a pressure job. Before the shoot they will buy plane tickets, book hotel rooms, rental cars, transfers, hire the catering, find crew members for the shoot, work with the location scout, work with studios, equipment rental houses, schedule models/actors, find props, direct the wardrobe stylist before the shoot, give instructions to the makeup artists & hair stylists, and make sure lunch is on time.

On shoot days they will run the photo shoot and then remind the photographer how much time they have left before needing to move to the next shot. They can also be a buffer between the photographer and the client. If there is a sudden need on set, they will find a local solution, if possible.

The producer is the lead crew member, and is a very important person along with the Photographer's Lead Assistant.

Location scout. Someone the producer will find to help with local knowledge to help find the type of location the photographer is looking for, an empty warehouse, an aircraft hanger, a baseball field, a back alley, a bar, a pool (or a pool hall), a back deck, a house in the hills etc.

Food stylist. This is for a food shoot or anytime good looking food needs to be in an image where the food will have any reasonable prominence. The food stylist will review the shot list, buy the food the day before, show up at the studio, prepare the food for photography and make it look fresh and appetizing.

Prop maker.?If there is something needed prop wise for a shot, this person will make it. From a spaceship to a set of oversized dice. Prop makers were very common until Photoshop became so widespread. They do still exist but now it is more common to shoot the "Real Thing" and drop it into the master photo as part of a composition.

Set Builder. Someone who will construct a set (or supervise a crew) you can then shoot on. It can be a small deck in the woods to a small "Home" to several sets in an area.?

Advantage: You get exactly what you want, where you want, when you want in the direction you want.

Disadvantage: Expensive and requires a good bit of advanced planning.

Set stylist. Someone who will either rent items, chairs, tables, sofas, love seats, lamps, paintings and other art works, magazines, nick knacks then design the set. Or will work with existing items and arraigning them as needed then adding items or swapping out items as desired. Will normally be used for resort shoots, high end lifestyle, fashion shoot and corporate jobs.

Grip truck. This is a truck filled with stands, flags, silks & frames, sandbags, "C" stands, mini stands, HiHi rollers, gels etc. and there will be a driver who is also a "Grip", someone photographers can use as another lead assistant. Normally they work on movies and video shoots but your better photographers know these are valuable people to hire for a good sized job.

Rental gear. This can be extra equipment that can't be checked on a plane or is too much to reasonably bring. This can include lenses, lighting gear, sand bags to keep light stands from being knocked over, large stands, silk frames, large lighting fixtures etc.

BTS crew. A BTS (Behind The Scenes) crew is hired to shoot photos and/or video, almost a mini documentary about the shoot. Becoming very popular on fashion & beauty, lifestyle and resort shoots. But can also be shot on a major corporate shoot. Think social media, website use.

Depth of Field. How much is or is not in focus. Can be controlled... within limits. In the shot below, notice the tip of the nose is out of focus, the eyes are sharp and the ears are out of focus. This shows a "Shallow" depth of field compelling the viewer to look at the eyes. An adjustment on the lens helps control the depth of field, as does the lens itself. The adjustment on the lens is called an f stop. As in f1.4 or f8 or f11 or f16. The higher the number, the more depth of field.

Shutter speed. This is a number (normally a fraction of a second, but can be much longer) of how long the shutter is open allowing the light strike the film or digital sensor.

Can be used to determine if the subject is crisp or blurred due to movement of the model and/or the photographer. The shorter the shutter speed, the less chance of motion blur. Conversely can be used to allow blur to show speed or motion, a longer shutter speed.

Initial Edit. When a photographer finishes shooting a project, their work is not over. They will need to "Edit" the shoot. This means they will look at each photo taken and delete each one that is not a "usable image". This can also be performed by an assistant.

"Not usable" could be out of focus, over exposed, under exposed (Too bright or too dark) too much blur or not enough blur, (A well executed blur helps show motion and/or speed in a still image and is an art to do it well) not framed correctly or mistakes like pushing the button while holding the camera taking photos of the ground, the sky, the photographer's feet etc. (it happens), model's eyes closed, half closed, close to being closed, weird expression, funny but not a usable expression et cetera. Then the photographer will then re-name the photos, generate JPEG images, build a website from these photos, upload them to their server and send you a link.

Initial Selects. From the above website, the client will choose the photos they want to consider using. If I shot 8 shots/scenes/looks I would suggest to the client to make from 40 to 60 initial selects. This number can be higher or lower based on their needs.

Final Selects. After sending the photographer your initial selects, they will build a new gallery and upload these images to their server and send you the new link. From these 20 to200+/- images you will make your final selects based on your needs.

RAW vs. JPEG. This is very technical but RAW & JPEG refers to the file format. This can be very important and you may want to be sure you and the photographer are on the same page. If you take a photo with a cell phone, you likely are shooting in JPEG. Most top professional photographers will shoot in RAW format only or will shoot RAW & JPEG at the same time.

JPEG - this is a camera processed and compressed 8 bit file.

Camera Processed means the camera is deciding for you how much or little saturation will be added, how much contrast is added or lowered, what color bias to add, if any and how much sharpening is used.

Compression is a nice way of saying throwing away image information, a lot of this is color, upwards of 87% of the original image information is deleted.

8 Bit file means the camera has deleted most of the color from the original file. This likely means nothing to you, and we understand. Let me illustrate the difference.

An 8 bit photographic file will have 16.7 Million colors. Sounds good so far.

However a 16 bit file will have in excess of 281,474,976,710,656 colors. Yes, this is in excess of a 281 Trillion colors. In other words, a lot MORE color to work with.

RAW - this is a file that holds 100% of the information that the camera's sensor captured and is saved unprocessed and uncompressed, to the camera's memory card(s).

Advantages: Has all of the original image information and can be opened as an 8 bit, 16 bit or 32 bit file in Photoshop. No artifacts present. Gives a trained a Photoshop artist full control and does so in a non destructive fashion, the original RAW file is left untouched. Any settings are stored in a "Sidecar file".

Disadvantages: Huge file sizes. Needs to be converted by someone who knows what they are doing. This process takes time.

I ONLY shoot RAW and only work in a 16 bit file. This includes all of my "Snapshots".

Establishing Shot. This is generally a wide photograph showing where the models are and gives the viewer a sense of place and what is where. The term is mostly used in motion picture or video project but applies to still images too.

Shot List. This is an outline of every different set up the client needs.

Shots or Scenes or Looks. This is a gray area and depends on context. Shots, scenes or looks could mean the number of setups, or a change of clothes.

Shots or Looks could also mean the number of different outfits worn by a model. Normally used for fashion projects.

Shots used in the context of: How many shots did you take total? Means the total number of photographs taken, normally hundreds or thousands. It could also mean the number of setups.

And it could also refer to the number of "Finished" photos you need. This has nothing to do with how many images the photographer takes. In talking to a photographer you could say: "I need 8 shots total." Or "I need 8 shots total with variations for all of them."

Make SURE everyone is on the same page as to the new client this can be very confusing. Have the photographer explain exactly what you can expect to get from them. Also define: Shot, Look, Change and anything you do not understand fully.

Finished images or finished shots. These are photos you want the photographer to retouch, color and exposure correct and "Finish" to the photographer's signature look and delivered to you.

Link to this article on my website: stpvd.com/p17/15?- Copy & paste and feel free to share this, and all of my articles/posts

Steve Thornton - www.stevethornton.com - Email: [email protected]

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This article and all photos are Copyright Steve Thornton.