# Photography & Camera — Artificial Lexicon prompt words

> Camera words tell the model how the shot was taken. Pick one lens or film stock and one shot type. The model reads them as a recipe for framing, grain, and depth. Click words to build a prompt in the tray.

151 words. Page: https://www.artificiallexicon.com/prompt-words/photography.html
Free to use in prompts, tools, and agents. A link back to https://www.artificiallexicon.com is appreciated.

## Cameras & formats

The device sets the era and the flaws. A Polaroid and a drone describe two different worlds.

- **DSLR photo**: clean digital look with modern sharpness
- **mirrorless camera**: current digital look, crisp and neutral
- **medium format**: smooth tones and detail, studio feel
- **large format**: maximum detail, slow deliberate framing
- **35mm film photo**: grain and warmth of analog film
- **disposable camera**: flash glare, grain, snapshot framing
- **instant camera**: soft focus, washed color, white border
- **Polaroid**: square frame, faded color, instant film border
- **pinhole camera**: soft edges, vignetting, long exposure blur
- **twin-lens reflex**: waist-level square format, vintage studio feel
- **rangefinder camera**: street photography era, quiet candid framing
- **view camera**: 19th-century formality, stiff poses, deep detail
- **action camera**: ultra-wide sports framing, high saturation
- **drone photo**: aerial position looking down at the scene
- **smartphone photo**: casual framing, deep focus, everyday realism
- **CCTV footage**: grainy overhead surveillance angle with timestamp feel
- **webcam photo**: low resolution, front-lit, desk-level angle
- **trail camera**: night flash, motion-triggered wildlife framing
- **underwater camera**: blue cast, particle haze, refracted light
- **infrared photo**: white foliage, dark skies, dreamlike tones
- **thermal imaging**: heat-map palette from purple to yellow

## Lenses & focal lengths

Focal length is distance and distortion. Wide bends the world, long compresses it.

- **wide-angle lens**: broad view, stretched foreground, more context
- **ultra-wide lens**: extreme field of view, bowed edges
- **fisheye lens**: circular distortion, everything curves
- **telephoto lens**: distant subject pulled close, flattened space
- **super-telephoto lens**: wildlife and sports distance, stacked compression
- **macro lens**: extreme close focus on small subjects
- **tilt-shift lens**: miniature effect, selective plane of focus
- **prime lens**: sharp single focal length, photographic realism cue
- **zoom lens**: variable framing, general photo realism cue
- **105mm lens**: tight portrait and macro standard
- **anamorphic lens**: cinema widescreen, oval bokeh, horizontal flares
- **14mm lens**: architecture and interiors, sweeping perspective
- **24mm lens**: environmental wide, subject in context
- **35mm lens**: street and documentary standard view
- **50mm lens**: human-eye perspective, no distortion
- **85mm lens**: portrait standard, flattering compression
- **135mm lens**: tight portrait, melted background
- **200mm lens**: strong compression, isolated subject
- **600mm lens**: birding distance, background reduced to color
- **lens flare**: light streaks and ghosting from a bright source
- **lens distortion**: bent lines near the frame edge

## Film stocks & processes

A film stock is a full color grade in one word.

- **Kodachrome**: saturated reds, archival 20th-century color
- **Ektachrome**: cool clean slide-film color
- **Portra 400**: soft skin tones, pastel warmth
- **Portra 800**: warm low-light color with grain
- **Ektar 100**: punchy saturated landscape color
- **Tri-X 400**: classic black and white, strong grain
- **Ilford HP5**: gray-tone black and white, documentary feel
- **Delta 3200**: heavy grain, night black and white
- **CineStill 800T**: tungsten night color, red halation on lights
- **Fuji Velvia**: high saturation, landscape slide film
- **Fuji Provia**: balanced slide color, cooler than Velvia
- **Lomography film**: unpredictable color shifts, toy-camera charm
- **expired film**: color casts, fog, degraded exposure
- **cross-processed film**: shifted colors, green shadows, high contrast
- **daguerreotype**: mirror-plate 1840s portrait, silver sheen
- **tintype**: dark metal-plate portrait, 1800s texture
- **ambrotype**: glass-plate portrait, ghostly midtones
- **wet plate collodion**: streaked edges, antique plate artifacts
- **cyanotype**: blueprint blue monochrome print
- **sepia tone**: brown-toned antique print
- **black and white film**: monochrome with analog grain
- **slide film**: high contrast, saturated, narrow exposure
- **color negative film**: wide exposure range, everyday analog color
- **film grain**: visible analog texture across the image
- **double exposure**: two images blended in one frame

## Shot types & angles

The shot type places the viewer. Say where the camera stands.

- **extreme close-up**: eyes or detail fill the frame
- **close-up**: face fills the frame
- **medium shot**: waist up, conversation distance
- **cowboy shot**: mid-thigh up, western framing
- **full-body shot**: entire figure head to toe
- **wide shot**: subject small in the environment
- **establishing shot**: the whole location before the action
- **over-the-shoulder shot**: viewer stands behind one subject
- **POV shot**: first-person view through the subject's eyes
- **bird's-eye view**: straight down from above
- **worm's-eye view**: straight up from the ground
- **aerial view**: high vantage over the scene
- **low-angle shot**: camera below subject, subject gains power
- **high-angle shot**: camera above subject, subject shrinks
- **dutch angle**: tilted horizon, unease
- **eye-level shot**: neutral human vantage
- **profile shot**: subject in strict side view
- **three-quarter view**: face turned between front and profile
- **candid shot**: subject unaware, natural posture
- **headshot**: shoulders-up portrait framing
- **group shot**: several subjects arranged in one frame
- **action shot**: subject mid-motion
- **panorama**: frame wider than a standard ratio
- **portrait orientation**: vertical frame
- **landscape orientation**: horizontal frame
- **forced perspective**: size illusion from camera placement
- **long-lens compression**: background stacked close behind subject
- **freeze frame**: motion stopped sharp mid-action

## Exposure & technique

These control depth, blur, and light math. One or two is plenty.

- **shallow depth of field**: subject sharp, background melted
- **deep depth of field**: everything in focus front to back
- **bokeh**: out-of-focus light circles behind the subject
- **f/1.4**: widest aperture, razor focus plane
- **f/1.8**: wide aperture, soft background
- **f/8**: balanced aperture, most of scene sharp
- **f/16**: small aperture, full landscape sharpness
- **long exposure**: motion smeared into streaks and silk
- **light trails**: moving lights drawn as lines
- **motion blur**: movement smeared across the frame
- **panning shot**: sharp subject, streaked background
- **fast shutter speed**: droplets and motion frozen sharp
- **slow shutter speed**: blur from movement during exposure
- **ISO 100**: clean grain-free daylight exposure
- **ISO 3200**: night sensitivity with visible noise
- **overexposed**: blown highlights, washed light
- **underexposed**: sunken shadows, dark frame
- **HDR**: shadow and highlight detail both kept
- **focus stacking**: macro sharpness through the whole subject
- **soft focus**: gentle blur over the whole image
- **rack focus**: focus shifts from one plane to another
- **vignette**: darkened corners pull the eye inward
- **chromatic aberration**: color fringing on hard edges
- **light leak**: orange streak from a leaking film door
- **halation**: red glow around bright lights on film
- **multiple exposure**: several exposures layered in camera
- **high-speed photography**: splash and impact frozen mid-burst
- **time-lapse**: hours compressed into one motion feel

## Genres & photo terms

Genre words carry lighting, styling, and context all at once.

- **street photography**: candid urban scenes, available light
- **documentary photography**: unposed record of real life
- **photojournalism**: news-event framing, caught moment
- **editorial photography**: magazine story styling
- **fashion photography**: styled clothing, deliberate poses
- **product photography**: clean background, even studio light
- **food photography**: styled plate, close warm light
- **architectural photography**: straight verticals, building as subject
- **real estate photography**: wide bright interiors
- **astrophotography**: stars, nebulae, long night exposures
- **macro photography**: small subjects at large scale
- **wildlife photography**: animals at telephoto distance
- **sports photography**: peak action, fast shutter
- **portrait photography**: person-first framing and light
- **studio portrait**: controlled backdrop and strobes
- **environmental portrait**: subject in their own space
- **still life photography**: arranged objects, painterly light
- **fine art photography**: gallery intent over record
- **minimalist photography**: one subject, empty space
- **abstract photography**: shape and texture over subject
- **stock photo**: generic commercial clarity
- **album cover photo**: square format, iconic single image
- **magazine cover**: portrait with headline space
- **National Geographic photo**: documentary color and place
- **award-winning photo**: general quality cue for photorealism
- **photorealistic**: asks the model for camera truth over paint
- **RAW photo**: unedited sensor look, neutral grade
- **golden hour photo**: warm low sun near sunset