Photography Vocabulary and Resources
Demos
Analog and Digital Definitions for Photography:
Aperture: An opening in the camera's lens that can be enlarged or contacted to control the amount of light reaching the film 'r image sensor. Combined with the chosen shutter speed, the aperture size will regulate the film's exposure to light. Typically, a fast shutter speed will require a larger aperture to ensure sufficient light exposure, and a slow shutter speed will require a smaller aperture to avoid excessive exposure.
CCD: [Charged coupled Device]: Sensor with greater dynamic range but more digital noise [high-end cameras].
CF Card [Compact Flash]: A popular flash memory device used by many digital cameras.
Color Management: A way of coordinating and translating the diverse ways that digital devices [scanners, cameras, monitors and printers] interpret color. An attempt to standardize color from input to output so that the color on your monitor matches your print.
Contact Sheet: A reference print of film negatives produced by laying negatives directly on the print paper [usually pressed together under glass] and then exposing the paper to light, resulting in an actual-size print of the negative strip including the frame numbers which appear along the edge of the film stock.
Depth of Field: The distance in front of and beyond the subject that appears to be in focus. The range of things in focus.
DNG: [Digital Negative] A non-proprietary format for storing raw camera data. No camera specific information is needed to interpret a DNG file. Metadata can be stored in a DNG file rather than a sidecar file.
Dodging and Burning: Technique used during the printing process to manipulate the exposure of a selected area[s] on a photographic print, deviating from the rest of the image's exposure. Dodging reduces the exposure for areas of the print that the photographer wishes to be lighter, while burning gives extra exposure to areas of the print that he or she wishes to be darker.
Dynamic Range: The range of tonality reproduced in a photographic image. Wider dynamic range translates into a greater number of tonal values between the darkest shadow detail and the brightest highlight details.
Exposure: In photography, exposure is the total amount of th light allowed o fall on the photographic medium [photographic film or image sensor] duing the process of taking a photograph.
Film Management: a system for reliably organizing, categorizing and retrieving digital assets. Popular software includes: Adobe Bridge, Photo Mechanic, iView Media Pro, iPhoto. [Adobe's Lightroom and Apple's Aperture may be used for file management but are better for bulk image processing.]
Film Grain: A granular appearance of a photograph or negative, which is in proportion to the size of the emulsion particles composing it.
Histogram: An illustration of how pixels in an image are distributed made by graphing the number of pixels at each color intensity level.
Inkjet: A printer that places ink on the paper by spraying droplets through tiny nozzles.
JPEG: [Join Photographic Experts Group] The standard image format for compression in digital imaging devices. It uses a 'Lossy' compression technique capable of reducing digital files to about 5% of their normal size. 'Lossy' compression means that pixel information in the file is discarded when the file is saved/closed and artificially regenerated when the file is opened. The amount of compression is based on a 1-12 scale with 12 being the least amount of compression and 1 being the most.
Megabyte [MB]: A measurement of data storage equal to 1024 kilobytes [KB] or 1,048,576 bytes. [A Byte is an abbreviation for binary term, which is the unit of storage equal to one character [0 or 1]. A byte is equal to 1 bit.]
Megapixel: Equal to one million pixels.
Metadata: A set of extra, standardized information embedded in a digital file. In digital images this information frequently includes copyright, resolution, author name, the time the image was taken, ISO, focal length etc. Information that comes from a digital camera is metadata stored in the 'EXIF' format [Exchangeable Image File.] All digital files have Metadata, but only image files have EXIF data.
Noise: The appearance of color artifacts within a digital image. [Similar to film grain]
Overexposure & Underexposure: Too much or too little light for proper exposure.
Pixel: Short for picture element, A pixel is the tiny component that constitutes a single point in a graphic image. Working together, millions of pixels build up a digital image; cameras and scanners translate visual information into pixels.
Posterization: When a region of an image with a continuous gradation of tone is replaced with several regions of fewer tones, resulting in a abrupt change from one tone to another. Unwanted posterization occurs when the bit depth of an image is insufficient to accurately reproduce a continuous gradation of color tone.
PSD: [Photoshop File] Photoshop's proprietary file format is compatible with other Adobe products. While most editing and layout programs can read PSD's non-Adobe software works better with TIFF files. PSD files are best used for saving files with layers as the Adobe software uses a very efficient method to store layer information.
RAW: A file format consisting of the unprocessed or undifferentiated information captured by a digital camera. All the possible data captured during the exposure is stored, unedited by the camera so that the photographer rather than the camera decides how the information will be visualized.
Resolution: Measurement of information captured. PPI [Pixels per Inch] is the unit to measure resolution for pixel based medium such as scanners or digital cameras. 72ppi= 72 pixels of information per one inch, regardless of output size. A 72 PPI file would look crisp like a postage stamp, at 100 inches a 72 ppi file would look fuzzy and pixilated, DPI [dots per inch] is the unit to measure resolution for printed material.
SD Card: [Secure Digital] Storage device smaller than CF cards.
Shutter: A device that allows light to pass on to the film for a determined period of time, for the purpose of exposing photographic film or light sensitive electronic sensors to the amount of light needed to record an image.
Sidecar Files or XMP: Adobe stores the metadata for raw files in XMP [Extensible Metadata Platform] files. These files travel with the Raw files as sets of instructions; they remember how the Raw file was last processed and all of the EXIF [metadata] for the image.
Thumbnail: A small version of an image used as a reference for its larger file. The images that appear on a camera's LCD or in a computer's file folder are thumbnails of the larger file.
Tiff: [Tagged-Image File Format]: A universal, flexible image format compatible with most image-editing and viewing programs. It is best used in the non-compressed format, but can be compressed using a lossles algorithm. Due to their wide acceptability, they are a good format for sending files to printers or publishers.
White Balance: A digital camera's ability to correct color when shooting under different lighting conditions; a function of the camera to compensate for different colors of light.
Workflow: The steps taken to work a digital file from start, usually referred to as capture [such as from a camera or scanner] to finish [typically a print].
Analog and Digital Definitions for Photography:
Aperture: An opening in the camera's lens that can be enlarged or contacted to control the amount of light reaching the film 'r image sensor. Combined with the chosen shutter speed, the aperture size will regulate the film's exposure to light. Typically, a fast shutter speed will require a larger aperture to ensure sufficient light exposure, and a slow shutter speed will require a smaller aperture to avoid excessive exposure.
CCD: [Charged coupled Device]: Sensor with greater dynamic range but more digital noise [high-end cameras].
CF Card [Compact Flash]: A popular flash memory device used by many digital cameras.
Color Management: A way of coordinating and translating the diverse ways that digital devices [scanners, cameras, monitors and printers] interpret color. An attempt to standardize color from input to output so that the color on your monitor matches your print.
Contact Sheet: A reference print of film negatives produced by laying negatives directly on the print paper [usually pressed together under glass] and then exposing the paper to light, resulting in an actual-size print of the negative strip including the frame numbers which appear along the edge of the film stock.
Depth of Field: The distance in front of and beyond the subject that appears to be in focus. The range of things in focus.
DNG: [Digital Negative] A non-proprietary format for storing raw camera data. No camera specific information is needed to interpret a DNG file. Metadata can be stored in a DNG file rather than a sidecar file.
Dodging and Burning: Technique used during the printing process to manipulate the exposure of a selected area[s] on a photographic print, deviating from the rest of the image's exposure. Dodging reduces the exposure for areas of the print that the photographer wishes to be lighter, while burning gives extra exposure to areas of the print that he or she wishes to be darker.
Dynamic Range: The range of tonality reproduced in a photographic image. Wider dynamic range translates into a greater number of tonal values between the darkest shadow detail and the brightest highlight details.
Exposure: In photography, exposure is the total amount of th light allowed o fall on the photographic medium [photographic film or image sensor] duing the process of taking a photograph.
Film Management: a system for reliably organizing, categorizing and retrieving digital assets. Popular software includes: Adobe Bridge, Photo Mechanic, iView Media Pro, iPhoto. [Adobe's Lightroom and Apple's Aperture may be used for file management but are better for bulk image processing.]
Film Grain: A granular appearance of a photograph or negative, which is in proportion to the size of the emulsion particles composing it.
Histogram: An illustration of how pixels in an image are distributed made by graphing the number of pixels at each color intensity level.
Inkjet: A printer that places ink on the paper by spraying droplets through tiny nozzles.
JPEG: [Join Photographic Experts Group] The standard image format for compression in digital imaging devices. It uses a 'Lossy' compression technique capable of reducing digital files to about 5% of their normal size. 'Lossy' compression means that pixel information in the file is discarded when the file is saved/closed and artificially regenerated when the file is opened. The amount of compression is based on a 1-12 scale with 12 being the least amount of compression and 1 being the most.
Megabyte [MB]: A measurement of data storage equal to 1024 kilobytes [KB] or 1,048,576 bytes. [A Byte is an abbreviation for binary term, which is the unit of storage equal to one character [0 or 1]. A byte is equal to 1 bit.]
Megapixel: Equal to one million pixels.
Metadata: A set of extra, standardized information embedded in a digital file. In digital images this information frequently includes copyright, resolution, author name, the time the image was taken, ISO, focal length etc. Information that comes from a digital camera is metadata stored in the 'EXIF' format [Exchangeable Image File.] All digital files have Metadata, but only image files have EXIF data.
Noise: The appearance of color artifacts within a digital image. [Similar to film grain]
Overexposure & Underexposure: Too much or too little light for proper exposure.
Pixel: Short for picture element, A pixel is the tiny component that constitutes a single point in a graphic image. Working together, millions of pixels build up a digital image; cameras and scanners translate visual information into pixels.
Posterization: When a region of an image with a continuous gradation of tone is replaced with several regions of fewer tones, resulting in a abrupt change from one tone to another. Unwanted posterization occurs when the bit depth of an image is insufficient to accurately reproduce a continuous gradation of color tone.
PSD: [Photoshop File] Photoshop's proprietary file format is compatible with other Adobe products. While most editing and layout programs can read PSD's non-Adobe software works better with TIFF files. PSD files are best used for saving files with layers as the Adobe software uses a very efficient method to store layer information.
RAW: A file format consisting of the unprocessed or undifferentiated information captured by a digital camera. All the possible data captured during the exposure is stored, unedited by the camera so that the photographer rather than the camera decides how the information will be visualized.
Resolution: Measurement of information captured. PPI [Pixels per Inch] is the unit to measure resolution for pixel based medium such as scanners or digital cameras. 72ppi= 72 pixels of information per one inch, regardless of output size. A 72 PPI file would look crisp like a postage stamp, at 100 inches a 72 ppi file would look fuzzy and pixilated, DPI [dots per inch] is the unit to measure resolution for printed material.
SD Card: [Secure Digital] Storage device smaller than CF cards.
Shutter: A device that allows light to pass on to the film for a determined period of time, for the purpose of exposing photographic film or light sensitive electronic sensors to the amount of light needed to record an image.
Sidecar Files or XMP: Adobe stores the metadata for raw files in XMP [Extensible Metadata Platform] files. These files travel with the Raw files as sets of instructions; they remember how the Raw file was last processed and all of the EXIF [metadata] for the image.
Thumbnail: A small version of an image used as a reference for its larger file. The images that appear on a camera's LCD or in a computer's file folder are thumbnails of the larger file.
Tiff: [Tagged-Image File Format]: A universal, flexible image format compatible with most image-editing and viewing programs. It is best used in the non-compressed format, but can be compressed using a lossles algorithm. Due to their wide acceptability, they are a good format for sending files to printers or publishers.
White Balance: A digital camera's ability to correct color when shooting under different lighting conditions; a function of the camera to compensate for different colors of light.
Workflow: The steps taken to work a digital file from start, usually referred to as capture [such as from a camera or scanner] to finish [typically a print].