Photography Definitions

Pixels: pixels means a picture element. Every photograph, in digital form, is made up
of pixels. They are the smallest unit of information that makes up a picture.

Image: a representation of the external form of a person or thing in art.

Resolution: Image resolution is the detail an image holds. The term applies to raster
digital images, film images, and other types of images. Higher resolution means more
image detail. Image resolution can be measured in various ways. ... Photographic lens
and film resolution are most often quoted in line pairs per millimeter.

Megabyte: the term 'megabyte' or MB refers to a unit of measurement used to

describe the size of a digital file. One megabyte is comprised of 1,024,000 bytes, or
1,024 kilobytes of digital information.

Megapixel: This term refers to the size of an image, usually in reference to

a photo from a digital camera or camera phone. A megapixel means one million
pixels. The resolution of digital cameras and camera phones is often measured
in megapixels. For example, a 12-megapixel camera can produce images with 12
million total pixels.

Gigabyte: A gigabyte -- pronounced with two hard Gs -- is a unit of data storage

capacity that is roughly equivalent to 1 billion bytes. It is also equal to two to the
30th power or 1,073,741,824 in decimal notation. Giga comes from a Greek
word meaning giant.

Jpeg: JPEG. Stands for "Joint Photographic Experts Group." JPEG is a popular image
file format. It is commonly used by digital cameras to store photossince it supports
224 or 16,777,216 colors. ... Still, the compression algorithm is lossy, meaning some
image quality is lost during the compression process.

Raw: A camera raw image file contains minimally processed data from the image
sensor of either a digital camera, a motion picture film scanner, or other image
scanner. Raw files are named so because they are not yet processed and therefore
are not ready to be printed or edited with a bitmap graphics editor.

Tiff: TIFF (Tag Image File Format) is a common format for exchanging raster
graphics (bitmap) images between application programs, including those used for
scanner images. A TIFF file can be identified as a file with a ".tiff" or ".tif" file name
suffix.

Png: PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics. It was created as an open format to
replace GIF, because the patent for GIF was owned by one company and nobody else
wanted to pay licensing fees. It also allows for a full range of color and better
compression.

White: In photography and image processing, color balance is the global adjustment
of the intensities of the colors. An important goal of this adjustment is to render
specific colors – particularly neutral colors – correctly. Hence, the general method is
sometimes called gray balance, neutral balance, or white balance.

Histogram: A histogram is a graphical representation of the tonal values of your

image. In other words, it shows the amount of tones of particular brightness found
in your photograph ranging from black (0% brightness) to white (100%
brightness).

Aperture: n optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels.

More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the
cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An optical
system typically has many openings or structures that limit the ray bundles.

Shutter speed: In photography, shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time when the film
or digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light, also when a camera's shutter is open when
taking a photograph. The amount of light that reaches the film or image sensor is proportional to the
exposure time.

Depth of field: Depth of field is the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects that are in
acceptably sharp focus in an image. The depth of field is determined by focal length, distance to
subject, the acceptable circle of confusion size, and aperture.

Aperture priority: Aperture priority, often abbreviated A or Av on a camera mode dial, is a setting on
some cameras that allows the user to set a specific aperture value while the camera selects a shutter
speed to match it that will result in proper exposure based on the lighting conditions as measured by
the camera's light meter.

Shutter priority: Shutter priority (usually denoted as S on the mode dial), also called
time value (abbreviated as Tv), refers to a setting on some cameras that allows the
user to choose a specific shutter speed while the camera adjusts the aperture to
ensure correct exposure.

Bitmap: Bitmap (or raster) images are stored as a series of tiny dots called pixels.
Each pixel is actually a very small square that is assigned a color, and then arranged
in a pattern to form the image. When you zoom in on a bitmap image you can see
the individual pixels that make up that image.

Exposure: In photography, exposure is the amount of light per unit area (the
image plane illuminance times the exposure time) reaching a photographic film or
electronic image sensor, as determined by shutter speed, lens aperture and scene
luminance.
Watermarking: However, photographers never really had a way to “sign” their
images, with the exception of a watermark. ... Technically originating in the art of
papermaking, in photography, the watermark is a superimposed image, logo, or
text placed over a photograph—usually as a method of identifying the image's
creator.

Optical zoom: By Vangie Beal On a digital camera, optical zoom is a

true zoom feature. It allows you to zoom in (or out) on the subject in the LCD or
viewfinder. This will enable you to get a closer view of the subject before taking
your picture. ... Optical zoom allows for better photo quality than digital zoom.

Digital zoom: Digital zoom is a method of decreasing the apparent angle of view of
a digital photographic or video image. Digital zoom is accomplished by cropping an
image down to a centered area with the same aspect ratio as the original, and
usually also interpolating the result back up to the pixel dimensions of the original.

Bracketing: In photography, bracketing is the general technique of taking several

shots of the same subject using different camera settings. ... When set, it will
automatically take several bracketed shots, rather than the photographer altering
the settings by hand between each shot.

Light meter: A light meter is a device used to measure the amount of light. In
photography, a light meter is often used to determine the proper exposure for a
photograph.

Image stabilization: Image stabilization (IS) is a family of techniques that reduce

blurring associated with the motion of a camera or other imaging device during
exposure. ... With still cameras, camera shake is a particular problem at slow shutter
speeds or with long focal length (telephoto or zoom) lenses.

Noise: Image noise is random variation of brightness or color information

in images, and is usually an aspect of electronic noise. It can be produced by the
sensor and circuitry of a scanner or digital camera. ... Such a noise level would be
unacceptable in a photograph since it would be impossible even to determine the
subject

Lag time: In photography, shutter lag is the delay between triggering the shutter
and when the photograph is actually recorded. ... The term narrowly refers only to
shutter effects, but more broadly refers to all lag between when the shutter button
is pressed and when the photo is taken, including metering and focus lag.

Hot Shoe: A hot shoe is a mounting point on the top of a camera to attach
a flash unit and other compatible accessories. It takes the form of an angled metal
bracket surrounding a metal contact point which shorts an electrical connection
between camera and accessory for standard, brand-
independent flashsynchronization.

Fisheye: A fisheye lens is an ultra wide-angle lens that produces strong visual
distortion intended to create a wide panoramic or hemispherical image. ... The angle
of view of a fisheye lens is usually between 100 and 180 degrees while the focal
lengths depend on the film format they are designed for.

Macro: Macro photography is a kind of photography. Macro photography is

about photographing objects that are very close to the lens, the film or the sensor.
Using the classic definition, in macro photography the image shown on the film
plane (or sensor) is nearly as big as the object photographed.

Telephoto: In photography and cinematography, a telephoto lens is a specific type

of a long-focus lens in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal
length. ... The angle of view and other effects of long-focus lenses are the same
for telephoto lenses of the same specified focal length.

Wide angle: In photography and cinematography, a wide-anglelens refers to a lens

whose focal length is substantially smaller than the focal length of a normal lens for
a given film plane. ... In cinematography, a lens of roughly twice the diagonal is
considered "normal".

Dslr: A digital single-lens reflex camera is a digital camera that combines the optics
and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor, as
opposed to photographic film. The reflex design scheme is the primary difference
between a DSLR and other digital cameras.

Dynamic range: Dynamic Range Photography Explained. ... The dynamic range of
the subject is a measure of the range of light intensities from the shadows to the
highlights. In low light conditions the dynamic range(that is the difference between
the darkest and the latest part of the subject) is quite small.

Digital negative: Digital Negative (DNG) is an imaging specification that provides

for long-termstorage of digital photographs generated in multiple proprietary
formats. ... The images that a digital camera originally generates are known as raw
image files. Each camera manufacturer has its own proprietary raw image file
format.

Exposure compensation: Exposure compensation is used to alter exposure from

the value selected by the camera, making photographs brighter or darker. In modes
P, S, and A, the camera automatically adjusts settings for optimal exposure, but this
may not always produce the exposure the photographer intended.