Digital Photography Glossary

Struggling with a word or phrase? Youre not alone. Photography has long had its own language, and digital photography adds many new terms. This glossary defines commonly used words and phrases in digital photography. Ambient light The natural light in a scene. Archival The ability of a material, including some printing papers and compact discs, to last for many years. Aperture A small, circular opening inside the lens that can change in diameter to control the amount of light reaching the camera s sensor as a picture is ta!en. The aperture diameter is e"pressed in f#stops$ the lower the number, the larger the aperture. %or instance, the aperture opening when set to f&'.( is larger than at f&(. The aperture and shutter speed together control the total amount of light reaching the sensor. A larger aperture passes more light through to the sensor. )any cameras ha*e an aperture priority mode that allows you to ad+ust the aperture to your own li!ing. Application A computer program, such as an image editor or image browser. Buffer )emory in the camera that stores digital photos before they are written to the memory card. Burning Selecti*ely dar!ening part of a photo with an image editing program. CCD ,harge ,oupled -e*ice. one of the two main types of image sensors used in digital cameras. /hen a picture is ta!en, the ,,- is struc! by light coming through the cameras lens. 0ach of the thousands or millions of tiny pi"els that ma!e up the ,,- con*ert this light into electrons. The number of electrons, usually described as the pi"els accumulated charge, is measured, then con*erted to a digital *alue. This last step occurs outside the ,,-, in a camera component called an analog#to#digital con*erter. CD-R ,-#1ecordable. a compact disc that holds either 234 or 544 )6 of digital information, including digital photos. ,reating one is commonly referred to as burning a CD. A ,-#1 disc can only be written to once, and is an ideal storage medium for original digital photos. CD-RW ,-#1ewritable. similar in *irtually all respects to a ,-#1, e"cept that a ,-#1/ disc can be written and erased many times. This ma!es them best suited to many bac!up tas!s, but not for long term storage of original digital photos. CMO ,omplementary )etal#7"ide Semiconductor. one of the two main types of image sensors used in digital cameras. 8ts basic function is the same as that of a ,,-. ,)7S sensors are currently found in only a handful of digital cameras. CM!" ,yan, )agenta, Yellow, 6lac!. The four colors in the in!sets of many photo#9uality printers. Some printers use si" in! colors to achie*e smoother, more photographic prints. The two additional colors are often lighter shades of cyan and magenta. Compact#lash: A common type of digital camera memory card, about the si;e of a matchboo!. There are two types of cards, Type 8 and Type 88. They *ary only in their thic!ness, with Type 8 being slightly thinner. A ,ompact%lash memory card can contain either flash memory or a miniature hard dri*e. The flash memory type is more pre*alent. Contrast The difference between the dar!est and lightest areas in a photo. The greater the difference, the higher the contrast. Digital camera A camera that captures the photo not on film, but in an electronic imaging sensor that ta!es the place of film. Do$ging Selecti*ely lightening part of a photo with an image editing program. Do%nloa$& $o%nloa$ing The process of mo*ing computer data from one location to another. Though the term is normally used to describe the transfer, or downloading, of data from the 8nternet, it is also used to describe the transfer of photos from a camera memory card to the computer. Example: I downloaded photos to my PC. DP' -ots per inch. A measurement of the resolution of a digital photo or digital de*ice, including digital cameras and printers. The higher the number, the greater the resolution. ()'# 0"changeable 8mage %ile. the file format used by most digital cameras. %or e"ample, when a typical camera is set to record a <P0=, its actually recording an 0>8% file that uses <P0= compression to compress the photo data within the file. (*ternal flash A supplementary flash unit that connects to the camera with a cable, or is triggered by the light from the cameras internal flash. )any fun and creati*e effects can be created with e"ternal flash.

#ile A computer document. #ill flash A flash techni9ue used to brighten deep shadow areas, typically outdoors on sunny days. Some digital cameras include a fill flash mode that forces the flash to fire, e*en in bright light. #ire Slang for shooting a picture. Example: I pressed the shutter button to fire. #ireWire A type of cabling technology for transferring data to and from digital de*ices at high speed. Some professional digital cameras and memory card readers connect to the computer o*er %ire/ire. %ire/ire card readers are typically faster than those that connect *ia ?S6. Also !nown as 8000 @ABC, %ire/ire was in*ented by Apple ,omputer but is now commonly used with /indows#based P,s as well. Grayscale A photo made up of *arying tones of blac! and white. =rayscale is synonymous with blac! and white. +ighlights The brightest parts of a photo. +istogram A graphic representation of the range of tones from dar! to light in a photo. Some digital cameras include a histogram feature that enables a precise chec! on the e"posure of the photo. 'mage bro%ser An application that enables you to *iew digital photos. Some browsers also allow you to rename files, con*ert photos from one file format to another, add te"t descriptions, and more. 'mage e$itor A computer program that enables you to ad+ust a photo to impro*e its appearance. /ith image editing software, you can dar!en or lighten a photo, rotate it, ad+ust its contrast, crop out e"traneous detail, remo*e red#eye and more. 'mage resolution # The number of pi"els in a digital photo is commonly referred to as its image resolution. 'n,-et A printer that places in! on the paper by spraying droplets through tiny no;;les. ' O spee$ A rating of a films sensiti*ity to light. Though digital cameras dont use film, they ha*e adopted the same rating system for describing the sensiti*ity of the cameras imaging sensor. -igital cameras often include a control for ad+usting the 8S7 speed$ some will ad+ust it automatically depending on the lighting conditions, ad+usting it upwards as the a*ailable light dims. =enerally, as 8S7 speed climbs, image 9uality drops. .P(G A standard for compressing image data de*eloped by the <oint Photographic 0"perts =roup, hence the name <P0=. Strictly spea!ing, <P0= is not a file format, its a compression method that is used within a file format, such as the 0>8%#<P0= format common to digital cameras. 8t is referred to as a lossy format, which means some 9uality is lost in achie*ing <P0=s high compression rates. ?sually, if a high#9uality, low# compression <P0= setting is chosen on a digital camera, the loss of 9uality is not detectable to the eye. /CD Di9uid ,rystal -isplay. a low#power monitor often used on the top and&or rear of a digital camera to display settings or the photo itself. Me$ia )aterial that information is written to and stored on. -igital photography storage media includes ,ompact%lash cards and ,-s. Megabyte 0MB1 A measurement of data storage e9ual to @4'C !ilobytes EF6G. Megapi*el 09ual to one million pi"els. Memory tic,HIA memory card slightly smaller than a single stic! of chewing gum. Di!e ,ompact%lash and Smart)edia, it is flash#based storage for your photos. 2iM+ Jic!el )etal#Kydride. a type of rechargeable battery that can be recharged many times. Ji)K batteries pro*ide sufficient power to run digital cameras and flashes. Online photo printer A company that recei*es digital photos uploaded to its /eb site, prints them, then sends the prints bac! by mail or courier. Panning A photography techni9ue in which the camera follows a mo*ing sub+ect. -one correctly, the sub+ect is sharp and clear, while the bac!ground is blurred, gi*ing a sense of motion to the photo. Pi*el Picture 0lement. digital photographs are comprised of thousands or millions of them$ they are the building bloc!s of a digital photo. RAW The 1A/ image format is the data as it comes directly off the ,,-, with no in#camera processing is performed. Re$-eye The red glow from a sub+ects eyes caused by light from a flash reflecting off the blood *essels behind the retina in the eye. The effect is most common when light le*els are low, outdoor at night, or indoor in a dimly#lit room. RGB 1ed, =reen, 6lue. the three colors to which the human *isual system, digital cameras and many other de*ices are sensiti*e. aturation Kow rich the colors are in a photo.

erial A method for connecting an e"ternal de*ice such as a printer, scanner, or camera, to a computer. 8t has been all but replaced by ?S6 and %ire/ire in modern computers. harpness The clarity of detail in a photo. hutter spee$ The cameras shutter speed is a measurement of how long its shutter remains open as the picture is ta!en. The slower the shutter speed, the longer the e"posure time. /hen the shutter speed is set to @&@'3 or simply @'3, this means that the shutter will be open for e"actly @&@'3th of one second. The shutter speed and aperture together control the total amount of light reaching the sensor. Some digital cameras ha*e a shutter priority mode that allows you to set the shutter speed to your li!ing. martMe$ia:Ia wafer#thin, matchboo! si;e memory card. This is also a flash#memory based storage medium. 3humbnail A small *ersion of a photo. 8mage browsers commonly display thumbnails of photos se*eral or e*en do;ens at a time. 8n /indows >Ps )y Pictures, you can *iew thumbnails of photos in both the Thumbnails and %ilmstrip *iew modes. 4 B ?ni*ersal Serial 6us. a protocol for transferring data to and from digital de*ices. )any digital cameras and memory card readers connect to the ?S6 port on a computer. ?S6 card readers are typically faster than cameras or readers that connect to the serial port, but slower than those that connect *ia %ire/ire. White balance A function on the camera to compensate for different colors of light being emitted by different light sources.