Motion, Video & Creative Techniques — 60 Terms Defined

Star Trails Motion, Video & Creative Techniques minutes Arcs traced by stars across the frame as the Earth rotates during a very long exposure or a stacked sequence. 15° per hour of rotation

Steadicam Motion, Video & Creative Techniques kg A mechanical stabilising system that isolates the camera from the operator's movement using a counterweighted arm and vest.

Stop Motion Motion, Video & Creative Techniques fps Animation created by photographing an object frame by frame, moving it slightly between exposures.

Stroboscopic Flash Motion, Video & Creative Techniques Hz Firing a flash repeatedly during a single long exposure, recording a sequence of positions in one frame. Positions = frequency × duration

Tilt-shift Miniature Effect Motion, Video & Creative Techniques An extreme selective focus that makes a full-size scene appear to be a scale model.

Time-lapse Motion, Video & Creative Techniques seconds interval A sequence of frames captured at long intervals and played at normal speed, compressing hours into seconds. Clip length = frames / playback fps

Timecode Motion, Video & Creative Techniques hh:mm:ss:ff A frame-accurate time reference recorded with footage, used to synchronise multiple cameras and audio recorders. HH:MM:SS:FF

Ultraviolet Photography Motion, Video & Creative Techniques nm Photography using ultraviolet light, either reflected from a subject or as induced visible fluorescence.

Vectorscope Motion, Video & Creative Techniques A circular display showing an image's colour information as hue by angle and saturation by distance from the centre.

Water Drop Photography Motion, Video & Creative Techniques ms High-speed macro photography of falling liquid, capturing splashes, crowns and colliding droplets.

Waveform Monitor Motion, Video & Creative Techniques IRE A display plotting the brightness of an image against its horizontal position, used to judge exposure precisely.

Zoom Burst Motion, Video & Creative Techniques seconds Changing focal length during an exposure so the scene appears to explode outward from the centre.