Search by 'photography' tag

• What is an aberration?

  Aberration refers to a distortion of quality or color rending in a photographic or digital image.

• What is an Aperture?

  The aperture is the size of the opening of the lens on a camera and is measured in f-stops. The aperture is responsible for determining how much light exposure an image receives.

• What is a Fill Light?

  Fill light is the source of light that is secondary to the main light used in a composition.

• What is Gamma?

  Gamma refers to the curve of brightness of the color spectrum as it is displayed on a digital monitor.

• What is a Mascot?

  A mascot is a pictorial logo consisting of a character or spokesperson to represent a brand, such as an animal or person.

• What is Lens Flare?

  Lens flare is an optical aberration that occurs when light hits a camera's lens directly.

• What is 4K UHD?

  Similar to 4K DCI, 4K UHD refers to images or digital screens with resolutions equal to 3840x2160. 4K UHD is equal to a 16:9 aspect ratio.

• What is Barrel Distortion?

  Barrel distortion refers to optical distortions due to digital images bowing out of square.

• What is an Artifact?

  An artifact is any distortion in a digital image created as a result of interpolation or image compression.

• What is Styling?

  Styling is a design guide indicating styling and formatting standards to ensure uniform representation of a brand.

• What is a Soft Proof?

  A soft proof is a digital sample of a print piece viewable on a computer screen.

• What is 2K?

  2K is a term that refers to a horizontal resolution of 2,000 pixels in images and screens.

• What is Autofocus?

  Autofocus refers to a camera's ability to manipulate its lens to keep the subject in relative focus.

• What is a Long Exposure Shot?

  Long exposure is the process of leaving a digital or film camera's shutter open for an extended length of time in order for more light to hit the subject.

• What is Interlaced Scan?

  Interlaced scan, or video, is a commonly used term to describe video capture techniques where two fields of data are captured a frame apart and then played back in a manner that reproduces motion without flicker.

• What is the Rule of Thirds?

  The Rule of Thirds is a theory that divides an image into a 3x3 grid. The subject must align with the focal point where the guidelines intersect.

• What is Bleed?

  Bleed is a method of extending a design past the finished page margins in order to be trimmed when printed. Making the image bleed ensures the final printed piece does not contain white lines on the edges.

• What is Negative Space?

  Negative space, also known as 'white space', is a design technique that leaves blank spaces or areas not containing any text of images.

• What is Stopping Down?

  Stopping down is action of reducing a camera's aperture.

• What is Bokeh?

  Bokeh is a blur or haze created when lights are out of focus.

• What does it mean when an image is Blown Out?

  Images are blown out when a photo is overexposed to light and appears too bright or white.

• What are Highlights?

  Highlights are the lightest parts of a photo.

• What is Exposure?

  Exposure is the amount of light on photo subjects. Overexposed means there's too much light whereas underexposed means there's not enough light.

• What is Stock Photography?

  Stock photography is licensed art and images taken and provided by professional photographers.

• What are Levels?

  Levels are the highlights, shadows and mid-tones in a photo.

• What are Mid-Tones?

  Mid-tones are the areas between the lightest part, or highlights, and darkest part, or shadows of a photo.

• What is a Flat image?

  A flat image refers to a style of design where a digital image representing a real-life object does not contain any three-dimensional visual effect. Flat design typically makes use of simple shapes with sharp edges.

• What is Unsharpening an image?

  Unsharp is a tool to sharpen an image by creating a blurry, or unsharp copy and subtracting it from the original.

• What is Skeumorphism?

  Skeumorphism is a style of design where a digital image imitates the look and function or a real life object.

• What is a Mock-Up?

  A mock-up refers to a recreation of an original model to be used for testing a design and/or functionality.

• What is LCD?

  LCD refers to the technology used in displays and stands for 'liquid crystal display'.

• What is NiCad?

  NiCad is a type of rechargeable battery used in digital cameras.

• What is NiMH?

  NiMH is a type of rechargeable battery used in digital cameras.

• What is Resize and Resample?

  Resize means to change an image size by duplicating pixels. Resizing may pixilate images and look blurry.
  Resample means to change an image size by filling in more pixels.

• What are Shadows?

  Shadows are the darkest parts of a photo.

• What is CSS?

  CSS stands for 'Cascading Style Sheets', CSS is a style sheet language use dot visually style elements of a web page.

• What is a Thumbnail?

  A thumbnail is typically a small, rough hand-drawn sketches of possible design concepts. Thumbnails serve as visual aids to help the development of full design concepts.

• What is Knolling?

  Knolling, also known as 'flat lay photography', is a photography technique when objects are arranged at a 90-degree angle within a square or rectangular frame and shot overhead.

• What is a Brand/Branding?

  Brand/Branding is a concept consisting of a company's values, messaging, visual identity, and other characteristics to represent and promote a product or service.

• What is Blooming?

  Blooming is the appearance of a bright, colored halo around a brighter area in a digital image.

• What is an Icon?

  An icon is an image, mark or symbol that visually represents an action, object brand or other similar item.

• What is ISO?

  ISO is a rating that refers to the speed of film expressed as a number that indicates an image sensor's sensitivity to light in a digital camera.

• What is a Symbol?

  A symbol is a pictorial logo consisting of a non-abstract shape or mark to represent a brand.

• What is an Abstract Mark?

  An abstract mark is a pictorial logo consisting of an abstract shape or symbol to represent a brand.

• What is an Emblem?

  An emblem is a design that represents a group or concept; in business, it typically encloses a brand name or logo. Examples of emblems include badges and seals.

• What is a Brandmark or Trademark?

  Also known as a logomark, a brandmarktrademark

• What is a Digital Negative?

  A digital negative is a raw image format used for digital photography.

• What is a Logotype?

  A logotype, also known as a 'wordmark', refers to the visual representation of a brand using its name as the design.

• What is a Kilobyte?

  A kilobyte (kb) is 1,024 bytes and is used to describe the size of a digital image or file.

• What is a Lettermark?

  A lettermark, also known as a 'monogram logo', is a stylized design containing the abbreviation or acronym of a brand name.

• What is a Macro Lens?

  Macro lenses are lenses that are typically used to take sharp pictures very close to subjects.

• What is a Wordmark?

  A wordmark, also known as a 'monogram logo', a stylized design containing the abbreviation or acronym of a brand name.

• What is Optical Resolution?

  The optical resolution is the resolution at which a digital camera can capture an image.

• What is Hard Light?

  Hard light is any light that is considered harsh or undiffused

• What is Feathering?

  Feathering is a visual effect that softens or smooths edges of a design element.

• What is an Aspect Ratio?

  Aspect ratio refers to the proportional relationship between the width and height of a frame reduced to the smallest ratio. The aspect ratio is written as the width then height and separated by a colon (width:height).

• What is Noise?

  Noise is spots or specks on a photo that appear dirty or dusty. Removing the dots is called noise reduction.

• What is Scale?

  Scale is the size of a design element as related to another. Design elements can be proportionally increased or decreased in size.

• What is 4K DCI?

  4K DCI is similar to 4K UHD, however 4K DCI refers to an image or digital screen with a resolution of 4096x2160 pixels. 4K DCI refers to an aspect ratio of 1.9:1.

• What is 720p?

  720p, often referred to as "HD Ready" refers to digital screens and images with an aspect ratio of 16:9 and with 720 horizontal progressive lines.

• What is 1080p?

  Similar to 720p, 1080p refers to images or digital screens with an aspect ratio of 16:9 that have 1080 horizontal lines that are non-interlaced (I.e. progressive).

• What is Blur?

  Blur is a design technique that adds an overlay on an image to make it appear unclear.

• What does it mean to Crop an image?

  Crop is the process of removing unwanted portions of an image either digitally or manually.

• What are Layers?

  Layers are a transparent overlay stacked to create images and effects.

• What is the Golden Ratio?

  The Golden Ratio, also known as the 'Golden Mean', is a mathematical ratio approximately equal to 1:1.61 used to create aesthetically pleasing compositions. The well-known Golden Rectangle consists of a large rectangle split into a perfect square and a small rectangle with the same aspect ratio as the large rectangle.

• What is 1080i?

  Images and digital screens with 1080 horizontal lines and whose lines are interlaced (not progressive) are considered to be 1080i.

• What is ACR?

  ACR refers to Adobe's Camera Raw format for images and is a tool used for enhancing and editing raw images.

• What is a Drop Shadow?

  A drop shadow is a visual effect that creates the appearance of a shadow behind an image. A drop shadow creates a 3D illusion that the image is raised.

• What are Margins?

  Margins are blank spaces around the edges of a page, usually surrounding body copy. Adjusting the margin can change the overall appearance of a design.

• What is Texture?

  Texture is a style of design where the surface of an element appears to have a tactile characteristic.

• What is a Grid?

  A Grid is a system that is evenly divided, intersecting vertical and horizontal axis used to align text and images.

• What is Contrast?

  Contrast is a pronounced difference between colors, shape, size, typeface, texture or other design element, such as dark versus light or thick vs thin. In typography, contrast refers to variety of stroke thicknesses.

• What is White Space?

  White space, also referred to as 'Negative Space', is a design technique that leaves blank spaces or areas not containing any text or images.

• What is a Watermark?

  A watermark is a translucent marker placed over a printed photo, or digital image or design. A watermark identifies the copyright owner.

• What are Crop Marks?

  Also known as trim marks, crop marks lines indicate where the paper will be trimmed to its finished size. It is recommended to add bleed to avoid white lines on the edges of a printed piece.

• What is Resolution?

  Resolution refers to the measure of the quality in detail and sharpness of an image. The higher the resolution, the more clear an image looks.

• What is Blur?

  Blur is a tool to soften or smooth parts of a photo.

• What is Sharpen?

  Sharpen is increasing image clarity by highlighting the edges and fine details of an image.

• What is a Safe Zone?

  A safe zone is an area inside the trim that is safe from being trimmed or cut off. All important assets, including text and graphics, should be placed within the safe zone.

• What is Chromatic Aberration?

  Chromatic Aberration

• What is Ambient Light?

  Ambient light is any light that is immediately available and is naturally occurring in a scene. Ambient light is light without modifiers like flash bulbs.

• What is Continuous Focus?

  Continuous Focus, or AI Servo, is the device on a camera responsible for allowing continuous autofocus, allowing a photographer the ability to move the camera without manually adjusting for focus.

• What does Anti-Shake mean?

  Anti-Shake, or image stabilization, is a mechanism in a camera or camera accessory that counteracts natural movement so images appear more sharp and without blue caused by motion.

• What is Average Metering?

  Average metering is the process of taking all available light values such as highlights, mid-tones and shadows and averaging those together to create an exposure value.

• What is a Bit?

  A bit is a binary digit that is considered to be the absolute smallest unit available when referring to a digital file. 8-bits is equal to one byte.

• What is Blowout?

  Blowout is an overexposure of light resulting typically in a complete loss of detail in a digital image.

• What is Bracketing?

  Bracketing is the process of taking several digital images in order to create set of exposure options. HDR is considered an advanced application of bracketing.

• What is Buffer Memory?

  Buffer memory is the temporary RAM used for holding digital images waiting to be processed by the camera. The more expensive a digital camera typically the more buffered memory it has.

• What is Burst Rate?

  The burst rate refers to how many consecutive digital images a camera can capture before completely filling the memory buffer or storage volume of a memory card or digital drive.

• What is a Card Reader/Writer?

  Card readers and writers are devices that allow for the transfer of digital images in large sizes and quantities. Card readers typically are either xD, Compact Flash, USB or SD.

• What is a CMOS?

  CMOS, or Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor, is a type of imaging sensor typically found in modern DSLR cameras.

• What is a Codec?

  Codec refers to file formats that record video. Common examples of codecs are H.264, AVI, MPEG-4 and AVCHD.

• What is Color Calibration?

  Color calibration is the process where image source, monitor and printer can be calibrated to use the same color standard. Examples of color calibration standards are Adobe RGB and sRGB.

• What is Color Depth?

  Color depth refers to the number of colors that are represented by hardware such as a monitor or camera and software such as bit-depth of a computer user's desktop.

• What is Aliasing?

  Aliasing refers to the process of minimizing or removing completely jagged/sharp edges in a digital photograph, making affected areas appear smooth and natural.

• What is a CompactFlash Card?

  CompactFlash or CF cards is a flash memory type of mass storage device primarily used in digital cameras.

• What is a Colorimeter?

  A colorimeter, typically a hand held device that analyzes the color characteristics of a swatch of color.

• What is the difference between Digital and Optical?

  Digital

• What is Digital Zoom?

  Digital zoom, unlike optical zoom, is a zoom that relies on software that crops a portion of a digital image and achieves a zoom. Digital zooms use no mechanical or moving parts in order to achieve.

• What is Dynamic Range?

  Dynamic range is the range of brightness and tonality reproduced within a digital image. The wider a dynamic range the greater the tonal values between dark shadows and highlights.

• What are Effective Pixels?

  Effective pixels is the result of the measurement of number of pixels that have actively recorded a digital image on a sensor.

• What is EXIF?

  EXIF, or Exchangeable Image File, is the commonly used header format for storing metadata, or data such as resolution, length, location, time and date, on a digital image file.

• What is Firmware?

  Firmware is a combination of software and hardware that allows photographers to control features and functions of a digital camera

• What is Focal Length Magnifier?

  A focal length magnifier is the angle of view (AOV) that a lens uses in a DSLR camera in relation to how it generally appears in a full-frame 35mm camera.

• What is Four Thirds?

  Four thirds or 4/3 is a term used to describe a digital camera format that is designed around the 17.3 x 13mm imaging sensor.

• What is Full Frame?

  Full frame is the use of the entire film gate at the maximum width and length for 35mm film and digital cameras.

• What is Color Temperature?

  Color temperature is a linear scale that measures color of ambient lighting with warm light measured in low numbers and cool light measured in higher numbers.

• What is Depth of Field?

  Depth of field, or DOF, is the measure of the available light in a background and foreground area and sits in front of and behind the main subjects in an image.

• What is a DSLR?

  DSLR refers to a device that captures digital images and contains only one lens reflex. DSLR stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex.

• What is Focus?

  Focus means the process of a camera focusing on an object, either close by or far away. Focus refers to that part of a digital image that is sharp.

• What is a Histogram?

  A histogram is a visual representation of the exposure values of a digital image and are typically referenced using a graph.

• What is a Hot Shoe?

  Hot shoe is a digital and film camera accessory that usually is located on the top of a digital camera and allows a photographer to mount and use an electronic flash. Hot shoes can also accept numerous other types of camera accessories.

• What is a Gobo?

  Gogo is any device, typically a reflector, or material used to keep unwanted light from reaching a subject.

• What is the Golden Hour?

  Golden hour, often referred to as the 'magic hour', is the time right before sunset and immediately after sunrise.

• What is an ICC Profile?

  ICC Profile is a universally recognized management standard for specifying the color attributes of digital images like cameras, monitors and printers.

• What are Jaggies?

  Jaggies is a common term to describe the 'stair-step' appearance of angled lines in a digital image.

• What is Lag Time?

  Lag time, or shutter lag, refers to the delay that can occur between the pressing of the shutter button and the time it takes for the camera's shutter to fire.

• What is Lithium-Ion?

  Lithium-Ion is a type of battery that is typically used in digital cameras due to its high capacity and quick recharge rate.

• What is a Low-Pass Filter?

  A low-pass filter is a filter used with digital imaging that filters and suppresses aliasing and moiré.

• What is Matrix Metering?

  Matrix metering, also known as segmented metering, is the taking of the total image area and then breaking it into sections which are then analyzed by a digital camera's light meter and then compared to the available light values.

• What is a Megapixel?

  A megapixel represents 1,000,000 pixels and is the unit of measure used in describing the sensor's size of a digital camera.

• What is Metering?

  Metering is the process of measuring a scene's light using a digital camera's built-in system.

• What is Moiré?

  Moiré is patterns that form in a digital photo and are a result of a digital camera's inability to distinguish between a pattern within the photographed scene.

• What is Noise Reduction?

  Noise reduction involves the removal of artifacts in a digital image usually by increasing the available light in a scene.

• What is OLED?

  OLED stands for organic light emitting diode and is a type of LED that does not require any back lighting.

• What is Non-lossy?

  Non-lossy, or lossless, refers to a data compression technique that does not remove detail in a digital image. RAW is a non-lossy data type.

• What is Non-Volatile Memory?

  Non-volatile memory is memory, like in a Compact Flash, SD or xD card, that contains information, usually digital images, which is not lost when power is removed.

• What is Pincushion Distortion?

  An optical illusion, pincushion distortion refers to parallel lines in a digital image that appear to bow inwards.

• What is RAW format?

  Raw files are digital image files that contain all of the data captured at the time the digital image was created.

• What is Red-Eye Reduction?

  Red-eye reduction is an automated process of reducing or getting rid of red-eye caused by a camera's flash and low light conditions.

• What is Overexposure?

  Overexposure is the result of an image capturing too much light and appearing washed out and details.

• What is Panning?

  Panning is moving a digital camera while using a slow shutter speed when taking a digital image in order to create a blurred background.

• What is Parallax?

  Parallax is defined as the difference between a digital image, as seen by a camera's point of view, and the image recorded by its imaging sensor.

• What is Pixelization?

  Pixelization occurs when a digital image is enlarged and the pixels of that image no longer appear to blend to form a smooth image.

• What is Red-Eye?

  Red-eye is the term used when a camera picks up the blood vessels in the pupil of a subject's eyes as a picture is being taken and usually occurs in low light environments.

• What is a Reflector?

  A reflector is a device used to reflect light to a specific location within a scene.

• What is TTL?

  TTL, or Through the Lens, is a system of metering that determines the proper exposure based on measureing the light that strikes an imaging sensor.

• What is an SD Card?

  SD card, or secure digital cards, are removable memory devices that store digital images and files and is typically found in digital cameras.

• What is Shutter Release?

  The shutter release is a button on a digital camera that, once pressed, will trigger the camera's shutter in order to take a picture.

• What is an SLR?

  SLR, or single lens reflex, is any camera that uses a prism and at least one mirror to project an image onto a focusing screen.

• What is a Soft Light?

  Soft light is any diffused light from a source that typically produces soft shadows and low contrast.

• What is Spot Metering?

  Spot metering when taking a photo using a digital camera refers to the measuring of small portions of a whole image for selectively measuring key areas of a photograph.

• What is Shutter Speed?

  Shutter speed is the length of time a digital camera's shutter remains open when taking a photo.

• What is a Scrim?

  A scrim is a translucent device typically used to diffuse or soften light.

• What is a Storage Card?

  A storage card is any device that can be used to capture and store a digital image or movie. xD and compact flash drives are examples of storage cards.

• What is a Telephoto Lens?

  Telephoto lenses are large lenses, typically between 70 and 300mm that can be used to take pictures of objects far away but maintain detail.

• What is Tonal Range?

  Tonal range is a term used to define an image's quality of color from shadow detail to bright highlights.

• What is a Time Lapse?

  Time lapse refers to the capturing of a series of digital images over a specified period of time.

• What is White Balance?

  White balance is a digital camera's ability to correct the color and tint in variable lighting conditions.

• What is Underexposure?

  Underexposure occurs when too little light exists to take an adequate picture using a digital camera and results in dark, detail less pictures.

• What is a Viewfinder?

  A viewfinder is a system used for focusing and composing a subject.

• What Does Wide Open Mean?

  Wide open refers to the technique of leaving the aperture completely open, or at its widest setting when taking a picture.

• What is a Zoom Lens?

  A zoom lens is any lens that includes a variable focal length and a photographer typically adjust this length by rotating the barrel of the lens.

• What are xD Cards?

  xD cards are small memory devices that are typically found in digital cameras and are used to capture and record digital images.

• What is TWAIN?

  TWAIN applies to scanners and is a standard scanners and digital cameras use for communicating.

• What is a Wide Angle Lens?

  A wide angle lens is a lens on a camera that uses a wider field of views than a regular lens, allowing for more of a subject or scene to be included in an image.