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Ben Willmore’s ™

Banish the fog of techno-babble with Ben’s


plain-English translations of the high-tech
terminology behind Photoshop!

For more Freebies and Goodies, go to: DigitalMastery.com


30-bit Designates how many colors a scanner can capture (10 bits of red
+ 10 bits of green + 10 bits of blue = 30 bits total). So 10 bits per
channel (RGB) is the same as 30 bits total. 10 bits = 2 to the tenth
power, which equals 1,024. So a 30-bit scanner can capture 1.1
billion colors (1,024 x 1,024 x 1,024 = 1.1 billion), whereas a 24-
bit scanner can capture only 16.7 million colors. When scanning in
grayscale, a 24-bit scanner captures 256 grays and a 30-bit scanner
captures 1,024 grays.

Alpha channel Alpha channels are basically saved selections. They do not affect
how your image will be printed.

Anti-aliasing Smoothing the edge of an otherwise hard-edged object by adding


partially transparent pixels. These pixels help to blend the edge of
the object into the surrounding image, making it harder to see the
edge of the pixels and therefore avoiding a jaggy edge.

Baseline The invisible rule that a line of text sits on. Letters that drop
below the baseline (such as lowercase j, g, q, and y) are known as
descenders.

Big data Any area of a layer that extends outside the physical dimensions of
the document.

Bitmap A confusing term, because Photoshop uses it in an unusual way.


Technically “bitmap” means a grid of pixels. That means that any
image you ever see in Photoshop that contains pixels is technically
a bitmap image. That’s why the native format for transporting
pixel-based images on the Windows platform is called a BMP file.
That stands for Windows Bitmap. Adobe has decided to reserve
the term to describe images that contain only pure black and pure
white (no grays or color). The reason can be attributed to Apple.
The Macintosh was one of the first personal computers that were
designed to deal with pixel-based images, and in its first incarnation
it contained a black-and-white screen (no grays). “Bitmap” got
associated with any pixel-based image on that first Mac model, and
that’s how the dual meaning came about.

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Bits In Photoshop, 256 shades of gray is known as 8 bits. This describes
how much memory Photoshop uses to keep track of all those
shades. So if you find a setting in your scanning software that is
called “8-bit grayscale,” it just means a normal 256-shade grayscale
scan. If you hear someone say, “I have a 24-bit color image,” that
means they have an image that is in RGB mode (RGB has three
channels; each channel is 8 bits; 8 + 8 + 8 = 24). Or, if you hear
about a 32-bit image, that just means the image contains four
channels; they are either talking about an image that is in CMYK
mode (four channels) or an RGB image (three channels) plus one
alpha channel (for a total of four channels).

Camera Raw File A special file format that contains the raw data that was captured
Format with a digital camera’s sensor. This unadulterated information gives
you the most versatility when opening an image in Photoshop.
Unlike the other file formats available (like JPEG and TIFF), RAW
files allow y ou to change important settings—like White Balance—at
the time you open the image. JPEG and TIFF images have those
settings locked into the image so they can’t easily be changed after
the photo is taken.

Channel The components that an image are made out of. Most photographic
images are composed of either red, green and blue light, or cyan,
magenta, yellow and black ink. The Channels palette is where
Photoshop keeps track of exactly how much of those primary colors
are needed to create your full-color image.

Chromatic Aberration An effect that causes small halos of different colors on the edges
of objects. This happens when a wide-angle lens focuses different
colors of light in different places on the image.

Clipping An indication of where an image is potentially losing detail by


becoming too bright and therefore blowing out any detail.

CMYK A model for reproducing RGB colors using cyan, magenta, yellow,
and black inks. (Black is abbreviated “K” for Key.) Any time you
print an image you will be using CMYK inks. Ideally, cyan ink would
absorb only red light, magenta ink would absorb only green light,
and yellow ink would absorb only blue light; you could therefore
reproduce an RGB image by absorbing the light falling on a sheet
of paper instead of creating the light directly. But due to impurities
in these inks, CMYK inks (also known as process color) cannot
reproduce all the colors that can be created using RGB light.

Color Cast An unwanted color that contaminates an image.

Color channel When you edit an image in Photoshop, you are really editing the
color channels. These channels break your image into one or more
color components. The mode of the document will determine how
many color channels will be present: RGB mode will have three
channels (red, green, and blue); CMYK mode will have four channels
(cyan, magenta, yellow, and black); and grayscale will contain only
one channel (called gray).

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Color management A system used to achieve consistent color between scanner, monitor
and printer.

Composite channel When you edit an image in Photoshop, you are really editing the
color channels. These channels break your image into one or more
color components. The mode of the document will determine how
many color channels will be present: RGB mode will have three
channels (red, green, and blue); CMYK mode will have four channels
(cyan, magenta, yellow, and black); and grayscale will contain only
one channel (called gray).

Contiguous An area that is uninterrupted by obstructions that would divide a


color or brightness region into multiple independent regions.

Contrast The range between the brightest and darkest areas of an image (or
a portion of the image).

Cropping The process of reducing the dimensions of an image by removing


unneeded space from the edge of the document. Also used to
remove big data.

DCS Desktop Color Separation (DCS) is a special version of the EPS file
format that comes in two versions, DCS 1.0 and DCS 2.0. You can
think of DCS 1.0 as the old version of this file format because prior
to Photoshop 5 it was the only version available in Photoshop; and
it used to be integrated into the normal EPS save dialog box. DCS
1.0 files allow you to save a CMYK image and get five files total, one
for each channel in the image, and one preview image. DCS 2.0 is
special because it is the only file format (other than Photoshop’s
own format) that allows you to save spot channels in addition to the
CMYK channels.

Dither Simulate color by using a pattern of two solid colors (for example,
adding a pattern of red dots to a yellow area to create orange). This
term also refers to adding a pattern of noise to a sharp transition to
make the edge less noticeable.

Dots per inch (dpi) Determines the size of the dots an output device will use when
printing an image. A 300-dpi laser printer uses black dots that are
1/300 of an inch. This term is often used incorrectly to describe
the resolution of an image (which should be measured in pixels per
inch).

Downsample To reduce the number of pixels that makes up the width and/or
height of an image without changing its general appearance (no
cropping, or adding white space).

Dye sub Short for dye sublimation. A type of output device that produces
a continuous-tone result by heating CMY dyes until they turn
into a gas (without first becoming a liquid). The output of a dye-
sub printer has a continuous-tone glossy look that resembles a
photographic print.

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EPS Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) is a file format used to transfer
PostScript-language page descriptions between programs and
output devices. EPS files should be used only with PostScript-aware
printers; otherwise, the resulting images will appear with a low-
resolution “jaggy” appearance because they only print the onscreen
preview.

Feather The process of converting a hard-edged selection into one that


blends into the underlying image as you move closer to its edge.

Gamut The range of colors that are reproducible on a particular device.

Histogram A bar chart that indicates which brightness levels are present in the
image and how prevalent each shade is within the image.

HSB A method of manipulating RGB or CMYK colors by separating the


color into components of hue, saturation, and brightness. Hue is
the pure form of the color (red is the pure form of pink, maroon,
and candy-apple red). Saturation is the intensity or vibrancy of
the color (pink is a not very saturated red; candy-apple red is
a very saturated red). Brightness is how bright or dark a color
appears (pink is a bright, just not vibrant, tint of red; maroon is a
dark shade of red). So, when talking about the hue of a color, you
are not describing how bright and vibrant (saturated) the color
appears. When talking about saturation brightness of a color, you
are not describing the basic color (hue) or how vibrant it appears
(saturation).

Hue The pure form of a color without considering how dark or how vivid
the color is. Maroon and pink are both based on a red hue.

ICC profile A standard file format used to describe the unique characteristics of
a scanner, monitor, or printer.

Imagesetter A type of high-end output device that is used to output images onto
photographic paper or film. Imagesetters are capable of outputting
only pure black and pure white dots. The minimum resolution of an
imagesetter is 2,540 dpi.

Inkjet A type of output device that sprays CMYK inks onto special paper.
Upon close inspection, the output of an inkjet printer typically
appears “noisy” because the printer uses a dither pattern to
simulate shades of gray.

Interpolation The processes of adding or removing pixels to an image to either


change the image’s dimensions, or to change how large the pixels
will be when the image is printed. When interpolation is done, the
cropping of the image will not change.

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Kerning The art (lost art, really) of removing space between letters to
create consistent letter spacing. In Photoshop, the kerning increases
(positive setting) or decreases (negative setting) the space between
two letters.

Lab A scientific method of describing colors by separating them


into three components called Lightness, A, and B. The Lightness
component describes how bright or dark a color appears. The “A”
component describes colors ranging from red to green. The “B”
component describes colors ranging from blue to yellow. Lab color is
the internal color model used in Photoshop for converting between
different color modes (RGB to CMYK, etc.).

Leading The line spacing of a paragraph of text measured from one baseline
to the next. It’s named after the strips of lead that were used to
increase line spacing in hot metal typography. In order to make sure
the lines of text don’t overlap, you’ll usually want to use a leading
setting larger than the point size of the text.

Line art Any artwork that consists of pure black lines on a pure white
background. Line art images always contain extremely crisp edges
and no shades of gray or color.

Lines per inch (lpi) Determines the spacing of halftone dots and therefore their
maximum size. The higher the lines-per-inch setting, the more
apparent detail you can reproduce.

Lock Transparency A function in Photoshop that “freezes” the transparency of a


layer. While Lock Transparency is in effect, you cannot increase or
decrease how transparent an area will appear.

Luminance Another word for brightness. When someone talks about the
luminance of an image, they usually ignore all issues relating to
color and just concentrate on what’s happening to the brightness of
the image.

Marching ants Term used to describe the edge of a selection. Used because the
edges appear as very small moving specks (similar to ants).

Marquee Like the rectangular marquees (signs) used at movie theaters to


display the movies that are currently showing. In Photoshop, the
Marquee tool is used to create rectangular (or elliptical) selections,
and the resulting marching ants even resemble the flashing lights
that used to be found surrounding movie marquees.

Mask Anytime you view a selection as a grayscale image (as opposed to


a “marching ants” selection), it is also called a mask. That means
it’s OK to call a channel a mask if you’d like. And when you see
features like Quick Mask and Layer Masks mentioned in Photoshop,
those are things that will also be stored in the Channels palette.

Maximum shadow dot The largest halftone dot that will not combine with the surrounding
halftone dots to become pure black. This is usually measured as a
percentage and reflects the highest percentage of ink that could be
used without losing detail when printed. The type of paper usually
determines what the Maximum Shadow Dot setting will be.

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Minimum highlight dot The smallest halftone dot that is reproducible using a particular
printing process. This is usually measured as a percentage and
reflects the lowest percentage of ink that will not lose detail when
printed.

Monochrome Something that contains no color and therefore only contains


brightness levels. A grayscale photo.

Neutral gray A pure gray that does not have any hint of color.

Neutralize Unwanted color casts are easy to spot when you look at objects
that should be gray. When a shade of gray is not bluish-gray, or
yellowish-gray and doesn’t have a hint of any other color in it, it’s
known as being neutral gray. You can neutralize a color cast by
adjusting the entire image based on an area that should be gray. In
essence, you measure how strong a color cast is by measuring how
much color is showing up in an area that should be gray and then
use that info to remove the color cast from the entire image. That
will effectively neutralize it.

Noise A pattern of dots that resembles the static that appears on some
televisions when no station is tuned in. This pattern is often used
to break up crisp transitions between two colors by replacing a
straight-line transition with one that has more of a random edge.

Opacity The Opacity setting determines how opaque (the opposite of


transparent) the information on a layer will appear. An Opacity
setting of 100% will not allow you to see the underlying image.
A setting below 100% will allow the underlying image to partially
show through the current layer.

PANTONE A brand of ink commonly used when printing with fewer than four
inks, or when colors are needed that cannot be reproduced using
CMYK inks (metallic colors, fluorescent colors, deep blues, and
bright greens cannot be accurately simulated using CMYK inks).
PANTONE inks are commonly referred to as spot color inks.

Pixels per inch (ppi) Determines how small the pixels in an image will be when printed.
A setting of 150 ppi means that pixels will be 1⁄150 of an inch
when printed. The higher the setting, the smaller the pixels.

Point A unit of measurement, used in the publishing industry, that is


1⁄72 of an inch (there are 12 points to a pica, and 6 picas per inch).
Most programs measure text in point sizes because it is much
more friendly than using fractions of an inch. But there is very little
consistency in the size of text. For example, 12-point Times is taller
than 12-point Helvetica, so you can think of the point size as a
general (not exact) measure of the size of your text.

Posterization The process of breaking up a smooth transition into visible steps


of solid color. This is often called stair-stepping, or banding, when
referring to a gradient.

Resample The process of changing the total number of pixels in an image


without cropping or adding empty space.

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RGB A model for creating color using red, green, and blue light. You are
able to see color because your eye contains cones in its retina that
are sensitive to red, green, and blue. Scanners capture information
by measuring how much RGB light is reflected off the original
image. Com­puter monitors display information by shining RGB light
into your eyes. All the colors you have ever seen with your eyes
have been made from a combination of red, green, and blue light. It
really is an RGB world out there.

S curve A generic curve used to exaggerate the detail in the midtones of an


image by suppressing the detail in the highlights and the shadows.

Samples per inch (spi) Determines the area a scanner will measure to determine the color
of a single pixel. You can figure out the samples-per-inch setting
that you need by multiplying the desired image resolution (ppi) by
the amount the image will be scaled. Example:

If the desired resolution is 300 ppi and the image will be scaled
200%
300 x 200% = 600 spi.

Saturation How colorful a color is without considering the specific color or how
dark it is.

Specular highlight An intense reflection that contains little or no detail. You’ll find
specular highlights in jewelry, metallic objects, and very shiny
surfaces.

Spot channel Spot channels are a special variety of color channel that allow you
to construct your image out of inks other than, or in addition to,
cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Spot channels are usually used
when printing with PANTONE inks.

Thermal wax A type of CMYK output device that bonds a waxy substance to a
special type of paper. If you scratch the output of a thermal-wax
printer with your fingernail, you will usually be able to scratch off
some of the waxy substance.

Threshold An adjustment that converts all shades of gray to pure black or pure
white. Any shades of gray brighter than the threshold value will
become white, and any shades darker than the threshold value will
become black.

Tracking The act of increasing or reducing the space between all the letters
in a range of text. Often used with uppercase text to increase
readability.

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Unsharp Mask A term used to describe the traditional process of sharpening an
image by combining a blurry (unsharp) version of the image with
a normal version. The idea behind Unsharp Mask is to increase
contrast and therefore detail.

Upsample To increase the number of pixels that makes up the width and/or
height of an image without changing its general appearance (no
cropping, or adding of white space).

Vector Images can be Raster, Vector, or a combination of both. Raster


images are made out of a grid of pixels, which makes them
inherently jaggy when viewed up close and causes them to appear
blurry or jaggy when enlarged. Vector images on the other hand
are made out of smooth curves and straight lines (known as paths)
which can be scaled to any size without degrading the quality of the
image. The most common program used for creating vector images
is Adobe illustrator.

Vignetting Darkening of the corners and edges of an image due to light falloff
in the lens of the camera.

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