Glossary of photography

B

• Background – everything located behind your subject 
• <Back light – the source of light behind the subject 
• Batch processing – a function used by image processing software in order to apply the same effect to a selection of photos 
• Bellows – used in macro photography, it is basically placed between the case and the lens and allows large magnifications. [Click here in order to read the full article about how to make macro photos.] 
• BMP – abbreviation for bitmap – an uncompressed image format that is less and less used because it generates very large files 
• Bokeh – the name given to a background blur that appears in photos with a shallow depth of field 
• Bracketing – a photographic technique that involves taking several photos under different exposures. [Click here to read the full article about bracketing.]
• Bridge – a compact digital camera with no direct aim and also on which it is not possible to change the lens 
• Buffer – a memory area built into the box allowing you to store photos taken in bursts before transferring them to memory “Glossary of Photography” 
• Bulb – a function to make very long exposures by opening the shutter of a camera for as long as you want. [Click here to read the full article about the bulb mode.] 
• Burning – an area of a photo that has been far too exposed to light. A cracked area cannot be corrected in postproduction as it does not contain enough information. 
• Byte – a unit of measure that determines the weight of a digital file 

C

• Calibration – a setting of the colours of a monitor so that they correspond to the exact colours of the printed photo 
• Camera lens – since the lens is attached to a camera, it is basically made up of several lenses and allows the formation of real images on the sensitive surface of the camera 
• Chromatic aberration – a defect often associated with poor optics characterized by visible coloured contours around areas of high contrast 
• Close up lens – a filter that screws onto the front of a lens to get closer to the subject. Useful for taking macro photos without a macro lens. [Click here to read the full article about macro photos.] 
• CMYB – “Cyan Magenta Yellow Black” is the acronym representing the four primary colours used in printing “Glossary of Photography”
• Collimator – a symbol in the viewfinder of a camera determining the area of focus 
• Color temperature – corresponds to the dominant colour in a photo. A cold temperature corresponds to a blue hue, and a warm temperature corresponds to a yellow-orange hue. [Click here to read the full article about Color temperature.] 
• Compact – a small camera very easy to use with integrated zoom and flash 
• Composition – the art of organizing the elements of a photo >
• Compression – a process of reducing the size of a file by modifying the encoding of certain data [Click here to read the full article about Color temperature.] 
• Contrast – the difference in luminance between the lightest and darkest values of a photo 
• Curves – the curve tool in software like Lightroom allows to correct the distribution of tones in a photo 
• Cut out – the name of a photo retouching technique that separates an element from the rest of the photo 

D

• Darkroom – a dark room used for developing analog photos 
• DC – digital camera 
• Definition – the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in a photo 
• Density – the opacity of a photo 
• Depth of field – the zone of sharpness between the first and the last net point in a photo. Click here to read the full article about the depth of field
• Desaturation – removing the colorimetric information from a photo so that it becomes black and white 
• Diaphragm – the mechanical device of a lens that regulates the amount of light on the sensor of the camera 
• Diffraction – the smaller the aperture of the diaphragm, the more light will be scattered and thus diffracted 
• Diffuser – either a softbox or an umbrella that diffuses the light of a flash or other lighting. 
• Digitization – the process of scanning a paper document 
• Distortion – a defect caused by the lens. It gives the photo a spherical effect. 
• DNG< - “Digital Negative” i.e. a universal RAW format created by Adobe 
• DPI – “Dots Per Inch” i.e. a unit of resolution measurement 
• DSLR – “Digital Single-Lens Reflex” i.e. A reflex camera 
• DX – a symbol used by Nikon for APS-C dedicated lenses 

E

• EF-S – a symbol used by Canon for dedicated APS-C lenses 
• EV – “Exposure Value” – a combined measurement of the aperture and the exposure speed representing the amount of light reaching the camera sensor. 
• Exif – data from the image stored by the camera in the image file 
• Exposure – the amount of light received by the photosensitive surface during shooting.
• (Correction) Exposure – a function to either increase or decrease the exposure of a photo 
• (Time Exposure) – the time interval during which the camera shutter will be open to allow light in. 
• Exposure parameters – aperture of the diaphragm, shutter speed, and ISO sensitivity of the sensor