swheeler Page 30 of 34
IMT – Cholla Training Center
Published: May 1, 2002
Content Pasted from
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/glossary/default.mspx
Struggling with a word or phrase? You're not alone. Photography has long had its own
language, and digital photography adds many new terms. This glossary defines
commonly used words and phrases in digital photography.
Ambient light The natural light in a scene.
Archival The ability of a material, including some printing papers and
compact discs, to last for many years.
Aperture A small, circular opening inside the lens that can change in
diameter to control the amount of light reaching the camera's
sensor as a picture is taken. The aperture diameter is expressed
in f-stops; the lower the number, the larger the aperture. For
instance, the aperture opening when set to f/2.8 is larger than at
f/8. The aperture and shutter speed together control the total
amount of light reaching the sensor. A larger aperture passes
more light through to the sensor. Many cameras have an aperture
priority mode that allows you to adjust the aperture to your own
liking. See also shutter speed.
Application A computer program, such as an image editor or image browser.
Buffer Memory in the camera that stores digital photos before they are
written to the memory card.
Burning Selectively darkening part of a photo with an image edi ting
program.
CCD Charge Coupled Device: one of the two main types of image
sensors used in digital cameras. When a picture is taken, the CCD
is struck by light coming through the camera's lens. Each of the
thousands or millions of tiny pixels that make up the CCD convert
this light into electrons. The number of electrons, usually
described as the pixel's accumulated charge, is measured, then
converted to a digital value. This last step occurs outside the CCD,
in a camera component called an analog-to-digital converter.
CD-R CD-Recordable: a compact disc that holds either 650 or 700 MB of
digital information, including digital photos. Creating one is
commonly referred to as burning a CD. A CD-R disc can only be
written to once, and is an ideal storage medium for original digital
photos.
CD-RW CD-Rewritable: similar in virtually all respects to a CD-R, except
that a CD-RW disc can be written and erased many times. This
makes them best suited to many backup tasks, but not for long
term storage of original digital photos.
CMOS Compl ementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor: one of the two main
types of image sensors used in digital cameras. Its basic function
is the same as that of a CCD. CMOS sensors are currently found in
only a handful of digital cameras.