Photographic terminology and words you hate.

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Thomas, "blown highlights" FYI, the term is valid and is meaningful (unless you can think of an alternative that describes what is happening with equal accuracy?). It has been in use along with "clipped highs" since the late 1980s to describe spectral areas of e.g. water which have exceeded the dynamic range of the medium; it applies equally to analogue and digital, with analogue (B&W and/or colour transparency, especially) occuring less abrubtly than digital where dynamic range is insufficient for the subject. A lot of digi cameras have extensible dynamic range. Film does not so we have to meter scenes where there is the possibility of spectrals getting out of order with care. Same thing with shadows. And no, this metering is not done by incident which is less implicit in very contrasty scenes.

Capture applies to digital. I have berated a number of photographers who ask me, knowing full well I've been out with analogue equipment, "did you capture anything nice?"

Bokeh, swirly or not, is just bullshit — enough to make me spew in my latté. I cannot believe over on photo.net how "photographers" get their knickers knotted battling away with bokeh in their exclusive little club.

Blocked up highlights is a much better term, in my humble opinion. I just think 'blown' highlights is a stupid way of describing the event, since it is ambiguous. To me 'blown' means 'I screwed up' and there's more than one way to screw up highlights. Blocked up you cannot misinterpret unless you try really hard. That's what I think.

Agree about bokeh and capture.

 

[cliveh]

Thomas, "blown highlights" FYI, the term is valid and is meaningful (unless you can think of an alternative that describes what is happening with equal accuracy?).

Over exposure.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Shadows are by default referred to as "blocked" where there is not a skerrick of detail in them. It would be very confusing in the lab or in comms to describe highlights as "blocked" and shadows as "blown". It's just a term and nothing for people to get uncomfortable with. Remember you can blow a tyre too, or block you dunny... or is it the other way around??

 

[Roger Cole]

Bokeh, swirly or not, is just bullshit — enough to make me spew in my latté. I cannot believe over on photo.net how "photographers" get their knickers knotted battling away with bokeh in their exclusive little club.

Well, no it isn't. Like the term or not, it refers to the rendering of out of focus areas. Different lenses and lens designs DO render out of focus areas differently. You could say "they render out of focus areas differently" or "I don't [or do] like the way this lens renders out of focus areas" but it's a shortcut to say "they have different bokeh" or "I don't [or do] like the bokeh of this lens."

Annoying or not, it's not bullshit.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Yes, that's true of your description of just what it is, and it does not need to be endlessly embellished with bullshit parading as facts, as is so common.

When "photographers" rattle on and on and on about bokeh (to a nauseating degree on photo.net), AND use this as the sole determinant of a lens's suitability to their needs (above all else, incredibly), they've gone truly off the deep end into rubbish talk. Canon published an article quite a decade back about how users of its TS-E lenses were critical of those lens's bokeh with movements engaged. Oh really!? Truth be told, and as Canon pointed out in subsequent demonstrations, bokeh cannot be accurately observed where tilt is applied to alter the plane of focus/peg or depth of field, yet all these users (showing, I might add, examples of their work which had a complete lack of foundation knowledge in photography) were throwing acid at what they considered were dud lenses. Quite a revelation it just have been to knock them into line. I think this was around 1997 in a Canon Professional Services newsletter (I still have a few in storage from that era). Photographers needs to consider a very long list of qualities of a lens which they will back up with experience and foundation knowledge. For me, bokeh has never been one of them, not even in the landscape context. Not even in the portraiture or sport context.

 

[Roger Cole]

Well we just disagree. I find it occasionally (when overused or used by those with no idea what they are talking about) annoying too, but I can't agree that it's bullshit. Why is it "bullshit?" Are you really saying that there is no difference in the way different lenses render out of focus areas? Or that such differences are photographically unimportant?

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Shadows are by default referred to as "blocked" where there is not a skerrick of detail in them. It would be very confusing in the lab or in comms to describe highlights as "blocked" and shadows as "blown". It's just a term and nothing for people to get uncomfortable with. Remember you can blow a tyre too, or block you dunny... or is it the other way around??

Ha! Well, I disagree. Shadows, in my opinion, are just underexposed if there isn't enough detail. How can something be blocked when there's too little of it? Makes absolutely no sense at all.
Blocked highlights makes sense, because just like a road block there's 'stuff in the way', the density is too high, blocking enlarger light from shining through.

 

[erikg]

Thomas, "blown highlights" FYI, the term is valid and is meaningful (unless you can think of an alternative that describes what is happening with equal accuracy?). It has been in use along with "clipped highs" since the late 1980s to describe spectral areas of e.g. water which have exceeded the dynamic range of the medium; it applies equally to analogue and digital, with analogue (B&W and/or colour transparency, especially) occuring less abrubtly than digital where dynamic range is insufficient for the subject. A lot of digi cameras have extensible dynamic range. Film does not so we have to meter scenes where there is the possibility of spectrals getting out of order with care. Same thing with shadows. And no, this metering is not done by incident which is less implicit in very contrasty scenes.

Capture applies to digital. I have berated a number of photographers who ask me, knowing full well I've been out with analogue equipment, "did you capture anything nice?"

Bokeh, swirly or not, is just bullshit — enough to make me spew in my latté. I cannot believe over on photo.net how "photographers" get their knickers knotted battling away with bokeh in their exclusive little club.

People have been saying capture in relation to photography long before digital came along. As in "captured on film for the first time". Can't argue that it's current usage may be found annoying.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

It's just terminology, Thomas. And widely used. It has been used in Ilfochrome Classic print production (incidentally, other terms used at my Ilfochrome lab over the years were "in the margin" and "on the margin"), RA-4, B&W... hybridised processing, the lot. It's not going to change because you disagree.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

It's just terminology, Thomas. And widely used. It has been used in Ilfochrome Classic print production (incidentally, other terms used at my Ilfochrome lab over the years were "in the margin" and "on the margin"), RA-4, B&W... hybridised processing, the lot. It's not going to change because you disagree.

I know. But the OP asked what terms I didn't like, and there you have it. Plus, you asked me for an alternative that better describes highlights that are so dense that they cannot be shone through. Blocked up? Come on! It's perfect.

For photography to make sense to me I use whatever damned words I please. So there.

And, what's not to like about disagreeing, as long as it can be civil. Perhaps it will even spawn new ideas.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

I know. But the OP asked what terms I didn't like, and there you have it. Plus, you asked me for an alternative that better describes highlights that are so dense that they cannot be shone through. Blocked up? Come on! It's perfect.

For photography to make sense to me I use whatever damned words I please. So there.

And, what's not to like about disagreeing, as long as it can be civil. Perhaps it will even spawn new ideas.

Agreed.
My go-kart has just gone off to the detailers . Uncle Reg has been given the instruction to get rid of the swirly bokeh on the bonnet and roof.

There was a long pause, and he looked at me.

"Right. Out with the swirls... the swirly...?"

"Yep, polish it out."

"Got that. What's that other word?"

"Reg...you really don't want to know."

And now I have to take Pentaximus for a walk. 'scuse me. Photography time.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Agreed.
My go-kart has just gone off to the detailers . Uncle Reg has been given the instruction to get rid of the swirly bokeh on the bonnet and roof.

There was a long pause, and he looked at me.

"Right. Out with the swirls... the swirly...?"

"Yep, polish it out."

"Got that. What's that other word?"

"Reg...you really don't want to know."

And now I have to take Pentaximus for a walk. 'scuse me. Photography time.

Excellent.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Anyone care to make a meaningful sentence using all the hate words from this thread?? :wizard:

The end result of using the Rollie prime lens with the movements engaged was to produce blocked swirly bokeh with blown highlights captured on film for the first time on the silver gelatine print by the author of the snaps.

I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN!

 

[Sirius Glass]

Snaps

 

[nbagno]

The phrase that I could do without goes something like this " (Insert camera name here) does (enter location here).

" Fuji GW690III does Paris"

Pardon any typos, I can't spell and I'm using my phone.

 

[ME Super]

For the "Words I hate" category, how about "The Big Bang." Really, scientists couldn't think of a better name for what is supposed to be the largest explosion in history?? Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes has a way better name that some abbreviate as the HSK: The Horrendous Space Kablooie. Doesn't that sounds so much more impressive than "The Big Bang" which I seriously doubt happened anyway.

 

[Truzi]

Actually, it was a very little bang... but then space expanded... never mind, lol.

 

[Roger Cole]

For the "Words I hate" category, how about "The Big Bang." Really, scientists couldn't think of a better name for what is supposed to be the largest explosion in history?? Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes has a way better name that some abbreviate as the HSK: The Horrendous Space Kablooie. Doesn't that sounds so much more impressive than "The Big Bang" which I seriously doubt happened anyway.

It was originally coined by Fred Hoyle, a proponent of the then-competing Steady State theory. He denied that he meant it pejoratively and claimed he was just trying to paint a striking image for his listeners, but in any case it was intended as a descriptive term for a lay audience, not for scientists:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hoyle#Rejection_of_the_Big_Bang

 

[edp]

"Analog".

Basing your identity on something you detest is a huge turnoff.

 

[jp498]

Ha! Well, I disagree. Shadows, in my opinion, are just underexposed if there isn't enough detail. How can something be blocked when there's too little of it? Makes absolutely no sense at all.
Blocked highlights makes sense, because just like a road block there's 'stuff in the way', the density is too high, blocking enlarger light from shining through.

If you shot normal high contrast color slide film in the 80's or 90's, blown is a good description for overdone highlights. You overexposed it and figuratively blew it, no fixing it, like you can't fix a blown light bulb or blown gasket. Blocked up isn't so great a description for highlights on slide film. But we don't want two different words for the same mistake but on different film technologies. Digital worked most like slide film in that it was easy to overdo the highlights, so blown seems to be a good word for "you blew it by overexposing and there is nothing you can do on the computer to fix it".

 

[BradS]

Shot, shoot, etc..
Capture, dynamic range, 3d effect?

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

If you shot normal high contrast color slide film in the 80's or 90's, blown is a good description for overdone highlights. You overexposed it and figuratively blew it, no fixing it, like you can't fix a blown light bulb or blown gasket. Blocked up isn't so great a description for highlights on slide film. But we don't want two different words for the same mistake but on different film technologies. Digital worked most like slide film in that it was easy to overdo the highlights, so blown seems to be a good word for "you blew it by overexposing and there is nothing you can do on the computer to fix it".

I understand about slide film, and thought about that yesterday, but decided it was better to be a rebel and contradict the establishment. I don't shoot slide film anymore, but when I did I didn't have any problems with overexposing, but rather the opposite. And anybody that has scanned an underexposed slide knows what 'blocked up shadows' look like (or tried printing them on direct positive paper). It's a black hole of nothing.

Anyway, whatever the term actually means, the word 'blown' amuses me to no end. It is a highly ambiguous word, and one of those terms that don't immediately make sense, belonging in the department of 'special words I must learn to understand the technical side of photography'.
It can mean so many things: Blown - as in a device that has a fan built into it, like a lot of the heating and cooling systems in North America. Blown - as in blowing something up with explosives. I blew it - as in 'I screwed up' with no precise indication of exactly went wrong.

Merriam-Webster:
Blown:
Swollen, or 'affected with bloat'. Being out of breath.

Blow up:
1: to build up or tout to an unreasonable extent <advertisers blowing up their products>2: to rend apart, shatter, or destroy by explosion
3: to fill up with a gas (as air) <blow up a balloon>
4: to make a photographic enlargement of
5: to bring into existence by blowing of wind <it may blow up a storm>
intransitive verb
1a: explode
b: to be disrupted or destroyed (as by explosion)
c: to lose self-control; especially : to become violently angry
2: to become or come into being by or as if by blowing of wind
3a : to become filled with a gas
b : to become expanded to unreasonable proportions

Blow:
1 a of air (1) : to be in motion <a breeze blew gently> (2) : to move with speed or force <the wind was blowing>
b : to move or run quickly <the linebacker blew past the tackle>
2: to send forth a current of air or other gas <don't blow on your soup>
3a : to make a sound by or as if by blowing
b of a wind instrument : sound
4a : boast
b : to talk windily
5a : pant, gasp <the horse blew heavily>
b of a cetacean : to eject moisture-laden air from the lungs through the blowhole
6: to move or be carried by or as if by wind <just blew into town>
7a : erupt, explode
b of an electric fuse : to melt when overloaded —often used with out
c of a tire : to release the contained air through a spontaneous rupture —usually used with out
transitive verb
1a : to set (gas or vapor) in motion <the fan blew hot air on us>
b : to act on with a current of gas or vapor <the breeze blew my hair dry>
2a : to play or sound on (a wind instrument)
b : to play (as a note) on a wind instrument
3a : to spread by report
b past participle blowed : damn <blow the expense>
4a : to drive with a current of gas or vapor <the storm blew the boat off course>
b : to clear of contents by forcible passage of a current of air <blow your nose>
c : to project (a gesture or sound made with the mouth) by blowing <blew him a kiss>
5a : to distend with or as if with gas
b : to produce or shape by the action of blown or injected air <blowing bubbles>
6 of insects : to deposit eggs or larvae on or in
7: to shatter, burst, or destroy by explosion <blow the safe open>
8a : to put out of breath with exertion
b : to let (as a horse) pause to catch the breath
9a : to expend (as money) extravagantly
b : to treat with unusual expenditure <I'll blow you to a steak>
10: to cause (a fuse) to blow
11: to rupture by too much pressure <blow a seal>
12a : botch 1 <blew her lines>
b : to fail to keep or hold <they blew a big lead>
13: to leave hurriedly <blew town>
14: to propel with great force or speed <blew a fastball by the batter>
— blow a gasket
: to become enraged
— blow hot and cold
: to be favorable at one moment and adverse the next
— blow off steam
: to release pent-up emotions
— blow one's cool
: to lose one's composure
— blow one's cover
: to reveal one's real identity
— blow one's mind
: to overwhelm one with wonder or bafflement
— blow one's top or blow one's stack
1: to become violently angry
2: to go crazy
— blow smoke
: to speak idly, misleadingly, or boastfully
— blow the whistle
: to call public or official attention to something (as a wrongdoing) kept secret —usually used with on

 

[jp498]

It can mean so many things: Blown

Indeed and full of confusion, but we can't fix that.

Only the context might clue us in.

If an engine is blown, it's either terribly damaged or it's good thing because it has forced induction.

Or blow is cocaine, or a crude intimate verb.

Or blown is a bad thing, but full blown is a superlative.

 

[benjiboy]

I hate photographers who refer to themselves and other photographers as "Artist"

 

[jp498]

I hate photographers who refer to themselves and other photographers as "Artist"

It's a more accurate description for me that hoarder/collector or gear whore.
We don't all have to be artists, but why not if our pursuit in photography is mostly artistic?