Glossary
- ambient light
All the light occurring in an environment, including sunlight and artificial-light sources such as tungsten or fluorescent lights. Also known as available light.
- ambient metering
A handheld meter that measures the light falling on your subject.
- angle of view
The area that a lens sees and that is included in the viewfinder or LCD screen.
- aperture
A variable opening in a lens that allows light into the camera. Also called f-stop.
- archival
Describes prints and materials that, when stored properly, will last for many years without degrading.
- artifact
Unnatural coloration of pixels caused by lens aberrations or interpolation of image data.
- asymmetry
Unequal balance in a composition.
- available light
See ambient light.
- bellows attachment
An adjustable accordion-like device that goes between your camera body and lens for taking macro photographs.
- bracket
To take several exposures of the same scene using different settings, typically overexposing and underexposing the image by one f-stop. In post-production, you can blend overexposed and underexposed versions of an image to achieve more detail in the highlight and shadow areas.
- cable release
A cable that you can attach to your camera, with a push-button on one end. Pressing the push button trips the shutter. Using a cable release is handy when photographing scenes that require long exposure times because it minimizes camera movement.
- camera obscura
From the Latin word for dark room. Originally a darkened room with a small opening or aperture ...
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