Photo Editing Terms

Don't Pull Your Hair Out

Photo Editing Terms; do we really know and understand them?

Most editing programs seem to take it for granted that we do.

With the emergence of easy to use, less expensive(some are free)

photo editing software, we can now take all the photos of family
occasions and other special memories and edit them ourselves
before adding them to a slideshow or album.

So don't pull your hair out if you don't understand the graphics-
related jargon. On this page we have listed many of the most
common terms for you to refer to.

 Anti-aliasing - The process of smoothing out jagged edges, making an image look less blurry.
 Aperture – the size of the opening in the camera lens at the moment a photo is taken. Aperture
is measured in fractions, so the larger the number, the smaller the aperture opening..
 Application – A computer program, such as an image editor or image browser.
 Burning – Darkening part of a photograph.
 CD – Compact Discs are a means of storing digital photos.
 Cloning – Copying one part of an image into another part of the same image or a different
image. Can be used to remove things in the photo.

 CMYK – cyan, magenta, yellow and black - the four colors used in a standard printing
process.
 Contrast – The difference between the darkest and lightest areas in a photo. The greater the
difference, the higher the contrast.
 Cropping – To remove part of the picture so as to focus attention on the real subject; or to
remove background clutter.
 DVD – Similar to a CD, but stores a lot more, 4 ½ gigabytes of data.
 Dodging – Selectively lightening part of a photo with an image editing program.
 Downloading – Means to get data from the internet or to get pictures from a camera.
Sometimes used interchangeably with importing.
 DPI – Dots per inch - A measurement of the resolution of a digital photo or digital device,
including digital cameras and printers. The higher the number, the greater the resolution.
 EXIF – Exchangeable Image Format – Most digital images have two parts. First is the image
itself, and second is the EXIF data, which most often includes all of the photographers
information, like the date and time the picture was taken and the shutter speed and aperture set at
the time.
 Flip – Flipping an image makes it a mirror image of the original.
 Grayscale – A photo made up of varying tones of black and white.
 Highlights – The brightest parts of a photo.
 Histogram – A chart that graphs all of the tones in a photo.
 Image File Format – The format of an image file determines the size of the file, the image
quality, and several other things. Common image file formats are JPG, GIF, TIFF and PNG.
 Image Resolution – The number of pixels, or dots, in a picture.
 Inkjet – A printer that places ink on the paper by spraying droplets through tiny nozzles.
 ISO – The sensitivity of film is measured by ISO, and the larger the number, the more
sensitive the film..
 JPG or JPEG – The Joint Photogenic Experts Group – they developed a method for making
images smaller while sacrificing very little quality. It's called JPG compression and is the most
common picture format on the internet.
 Landscape – Turning the image on its side so that the narrow part of the photo is upright.
 Layers – Think of layers as transparency sheets that are used in an overhead projector. You
can work on each sheet, without damaging others.
 Media – Material that information is written to and stored on. Digital photography storage
media includes CompactFlash cards and CDs.
 Megabyte (MB) – A measurement of data storage equal to 1024 kilobytes (KB).
 Megapixel – Equal to one million pixels.
 Memory Stick® - A memory card slightly smaller than a single stick of chewing gum. Like
CompactFlash and SmartMedia, it is a flash-based storage for your photos.
 Online photo printer – A company that receives digital photos uploaded to its Web site, prints
them, then sends the prints back by mail.
 Panning – A photography technique in which the camera follows a moving subject. Done
correctly, the subject is sharp and clear, while the background is blurred, giving a sense of
motion to the photo.
 Photoshopping -Slang for the digital editing of photos.
 Pixelated - A grainy look of images, especially when enlarged, where you can see the
individual dots of color.
 Pixel is an abbreviation for Picture Element and refers to the individual dots of an image that
you can see on screen. Digital photographs are comprised of thousands or millions of them.
 Portrait – The photo will be upright with the widest part of the image from the top to the
bottom.
 RAW – The RAW image format is the data as it comes directly off the Camera, with no in-
camera processing.
 Red Eye – The reflection of the camera flash off the back of the subject's eyes. It happens
most often when you have a bright flash in dim light.
 Resize – It's used to change the size or resolution of an image.
 RGB – Red, Green, Blue: the three colors to which the human visual system, digital cameras
and many other devices are sensitive. Each is given an amount between 0 and 255, and the blend
of the three produces all other colors.
 Saturation – How rich the colors are in a photo. When desaturated, all of the color is removed
and only grayscale or black and white remain.
 Shadows – The darkest part of an image, just as highlights are the brightest.
 Sharpness – The clarity of detail in a photo.
 Shutter Speed – The amount of time the shutter remains open when a photo is being taken.
Shutter speed and aperture together determine how much light hits the camera sensor or film.
Shutter Speed is also a fraction; 500 is actually 1/500, or one five hundredth of a second.
 SmartMedia™ - A wafer-thin, matchbook size memory card. This is also a flash-memory
based storage medium.
 Thumb Drive – Also known as a jump drive, plugs into a computer's USB port. It's like
having a hard drive that fits in your pocket.
 Thumbnail – A small version of a photo. Image browsers commonly display thumbnails of
photos several or even dozens at a time.
 Uploading – The opposite of downloading, it involves sending a file from your computer to
another system, either through cable or over the internet. Can be used interchangeably with
export.
 USB – Universal Serial Bus – An industry standard for connecting things to a computer.
 White balance – A function on the camera to compensate for different colors of light being
emitted by different light sources.

In this Webopedia Quick Reference, we define the common

image editing program terminology to help you learn the
basics of editing digital images.
Image (or graphics) editing jargon can be confusing, especially for those who are just learning
how to edit digital photographs. There are countless image editing and manipulation software
packages available, each with its own options and features. Adding to the confusion for novices,
most programs tend to use different names for the basic functions used to edit images.

In this Webopedia Quick Reference article, we'll explain the common terms to help you learn the
basics of editing digital images.

Image Dimensions

Image dimensions are the length and width of your image, measured in pixels. Some graphics
programs will allow you to view and work with your image in the equivalent inches or
centimeters. Depending on what you plan to use your image for, you may want to change the
image size. For example, if you are using a high-resolution digital photograph, you may want to
make the image smaller for publishing on your blog or website. You will have a couple choices:
resize or resample.

The Difference Between Image Resize and Resample

When you resize or resample an image, you're basically specifying a new pixel dimension (length
and width) for that image. The resize algorithm duplicates or deletes pixels. If you choose
resample it will smooth out edges and fill in missing pixels with the appropriate color. Because
of the difference between resize and resample, it is generally best to use resize on computer-
generated graphics and resample on photo images containing more than 256 colors.

How to Manipulate Image Color Depth

In computer graphics, color depth is how you describe the range of colors that can be used in an
image. The more colors used in an image, the more realistic it will look. Common values for
color depth include the following: 256 colors; 16-bit, which is up to 65,000 colors; and 24-bit,
which is 16,777,216 colors. Computer-generated graphics and clip art are best suited to a lower
color depth, while photos and realistic images are best suited to 24 and 32-bit color depth. The
more colors your image contains, the larger the file size.

Original image (24-bit) showing zoom area

(Zoomed 200x185 crop) 256 colors (8 bit)

Zoomed 200x185 crop) 16 colors (4 bit)

Using Predefined Image Effects

Many image editing programs come with predefined algorithms that enable you to add special
effects to your images. Image effects are used as a way to change your image to add an artistic
look, make textured patterns, or produce an enhanced real-world view.

There are some standard image effects that you can expect to find in a good program. Effects let
you do things like change the edges of your image, adjust the noise level, add textures, change
the gradient and fine-tune many other aspects of your image.

With most programs you can simply select the name of the image effect and the program will
produce the image with the effect, so you can save the image. You can also choose "undo" if you
don't like the change and select another one to try. Also, you may find your program offers an
effects browser, which will open your image as a thumbnail in a browser window that allows you
to quickly preview how each effect will look before performing the action.

Some graphics programs will offer a few predefined effects, others designed with effects in mind
may offer hundreds of image effects to choose from. The following examples show several
common image effects.

Original Image
Artistic Effect: Neon Glow

Illumination Effects: Sunburst

Texture Effects: Tiles

Digital Photo Effects

With the popularity of digital photography, most image editing programs offer image effects
specifically designed for use on digital photographs. These types of effects are used to remove
problems that can appear in your original digital photograph such as various lens corrections
(pincushion or fisheye) and red-eye removal tools. Re-eye removal is becoming more of a
standard photo effect in graphics programs. Some options will simply auto-detect red-eye when
you run the function and remove it, while others provide more advanced options by allowing you
to place a circle over the red-eye area and adjust the red-eye removal tool to your own liking.
Others will provide a selection of human and animal eyes that you can use to fill in the red-eye
on your own image.

Recommended Reading: Webopedia's Digital Camera Guide.

Making Color Adjustments

Color adjustments are used to change the overall tone of your image and to remove unwanted
colors from your image as well. Changes in color adjustment will usually affect an entire image
-- even if you have selected only a small portion of the image to be adjusted, unless you are
working with images that have a color depth of 24-bit or higher.

Color adjustments tools take other colors from the image into consideration when running the
algorithm. For example if you add grey to a blue water scene, the grey will be influenced by the
blue. Color balance can also be used to produce interesting image effects. By adding grey and
yellow, for example, you can produce a more aged or newspaper aged look to your image.

One element of color adjustment that is available in many graphics programs is color balance.
This function allows you to control the amount of red, green and blue in an image. Other
standard color adjustments found in many image editing programs allow you to adjust the
brightness, contrast and gamma in the image. These options are used to correct the brightness
and contrast of an image. Adjusting the brightness and contrast highlights midtones and shadows
to bring out detail in either light or dark areas. Gamma adjusts the brightness and contrast in
unison.

The following examples show images processed with different color adjustment functions.

Original Image
Red Color Balance

Brightness Enhancement

Greyworld

Removing Noise and Artifacts

In digital images noise and artifacts can often be a problem in images. Noise is used to describe
the occurrence of color dots or specks where there should be none. For example, in a digital
image of a pool of blue water, you may notice white, grey or other colored specks in the image
where it should be blue. An artifact is used to describe any visible defect in the image. Jaggies
are stair-like lines that appear where there should be smooth straight lines or curves and are
considered artifacts.

Again, the preset options for artifact and noise removal will differ among graphics programs, but
good programs will offer pre-defined options for small scratch removal, which is useful when
dealing with scanned images, noise removal with edge preserving, salt and pepper removal
(which removes extraneous black and white dots), and also softening which will blur some noise
in photographs and give a softer tone to the image. Some programs will also have a JPEG artifact
removal which helps remove artifacts introduced by the JPEG compression algorithm.

RECOMMENDED READING: Webopedia's "Graphics File Formats" discusses the most

common types of graphics file formats including TIFF, JPEG, GIF, and PNG.

Control Cursors (Tools)

Graphics programs offer a set of tools that you can use to make changes and manipulate your
images through cursor movement. The tools differ but allow you to color or fill in areas of your
image with user-selected colors, crop out sections of an image, erase the background, or replace
colors in an image. Here are some commonly used tools you should become familiar with in
your graphics program.

Crop

Using the crop function allows you to drag a rectangular shape around an area in your image to
cut off the sides to make it the proper size or to remove unwanted parts. Most graphics
applications allow you to crop images with a clip feature.

Paint Tool

The Painting tool changes the area of your image where you use the cursor to add paint strokes to
the image. You can use this tool to fill in single pixels, add hard or soft lines, or select areas to
fill in with a solid color or, some programs will allow you to paint with a texture rather than a
single color.

Paint Tool
Brush

A part of the Paint tool that that allows you to select a brush shape (square, circle, oval and so
on) and also the the thickness in pixels you want to paint on your image with. As you move your
cursor over the image it leaves a stroke of color.

Dropper

The Dropper tool allows you to choose a foreground or background color from your image to
work with. If you had a specific blue in your image that you wanted to use with the paint tool, for
example, you would use the dropper and click on one of the blue pixels to change your
foreground color.

Eraser

Eraser tools allow you to erase areas within your image to leave behind transparency or a
background color. There is also a Background Eraser which provides more control in removing a
background to transparent.

Background Eraser

Based in Nova Scotia, Vangie Beal is has been writing about technology for more than a decade. She is a
frequent contributor to EcommerceGuide and managing editor at Webopedia. You can tweet her online
@AuroraGG.