Photography Definitions

● Pixels -
○ The smallest unit of a digital image captured by a camera's image sensor
● Image resolution -
○ The level of detail contained in an image
● Megabyte -
○ A unit of measurement used to describe the size of a digital file
● Megapixel -
○ The measurement of the resolution of still and video cameras, monitors and
scanners
● Gigabyte -
○ A specific unit of data that's equal to about 1 billion bytes of data
● JPEG -
○ A lossy raster file format that compresses an image to make the file smaller
● RAW -
○ A RAW file is lossless, meaning it captures uncompressed data from your
camera sensor
● TIFF -
○ A computer file used to store raster graphics and image information
● PNG -
○ A portable network graphic, a type of raster image file
● White balance -
○ The adjustment of a digital photograph to make its colors appear more realistic
● Histogram -
○ It tells you whether your photo is underexposed, or overexposed, how much
contrast it has and whether there are any overexposed highlights
● Aperture -
○ The size of the opening in your camera lens
● Shutter speed -
○ The speed at which the shutter of the camera closes
● Depth of field -
○ The distance between the closest and farthest objects that appears acceptably
sharp
● Aperture priority -
○ A mode 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
● Shutter priority -
○ A shooting mode whereby the photographer sets the shutter speed, while the
camera automatically sets the aperture
● Bitmap -
○ A type of memory organization or image file format used to store digital images
● Exposure -
 ○ The amount of light that reaches your camera's sensor, creating visual data over
a period of time
● Watermarking -
○ A logo, piece of text or signature superimposed onto a photograph
● Optical zoom -
○ Involves a physical camera lens movement, which changes the apparent
closeness of the image subject by increasing the focal length
● Digital zoom -
○ A method of decreasing the precise angle of view of a digital photograph or video
image
● Bracketing -
○ You take exactly the same picture of your subject at several different exposures
● Light meter -
○ A device that measures light, there’s 2 types, incident and reflective
● Image stabalization -
○ How stable the optical system of a camera is during capture
● Noise -
○ A random variation in the image signal, it can be caused by poor lighting
conditions, high ISO settings, long exposure times, heat, and can be introduced
during editing
● Lag time -
○ The delay between triggering the shutter and when the photograph is actually
recorded
● Hot shoe -
○ A mounting point on the top of a camera to attach a flash unit and other
compatible accessories
● Fisheye -
○ An ultra wide-angle lens that produces strong visual distortion intended to create
a wide panoramic or hemispherical image
● Macro -
○ Showcasing a subject larger than it is in real life, an extreme close-up of
something small
● Telephoto -
○ A type of photography that brings distant subjects closer with the use of long
focal lengths
● Wide angle -
○ It gives you a wide field of view, the wider your field of view, the more of the
scene you'll be able to see in the frame
● DSLR -
○ Digital Single Lens Reflex
● Dynamic range -
○ The ratio between the brightest and darkest parts of an image, from pure black to
brightest white
● Digital negative -
 ○ A negative image printed onto a transparency film using an inkjet printer
● Exposure compensation -
○ Helps you override automatic exposure adjustments your camera makes in
situations with uneven light distribution, filters, non-standard processing, or
underexposure or overexposure