Palette

What Does Palette Mean When Talking About Photography and Image Editing? Also referred to as ‘color palette’ the term ‘palette’ describes the entire range of colors that can be rendered by a digital device such as a camera LCD or a computer monitor. A computer monitor may have a color palette of 16 million colors, an image on the other hand often contains a much smaller number, typically 256. The term is also used to describe a collection of colors, usually displayed graphically in RGB triplets, which a user can select when editing images and re-touching photos. A palette, or …

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Panning

What Is Panning and How Can It Be Used When Taking Photographs? When talking about shooting still images ‘Panning’ refers to a technique that is used to capture a moving subject against a blurred background. By setting a relatively slow shutter speed and tracking a moving subject with the camera a photographer is able to freeze a moving subject in motion, the sideways movement of the camera and the slow shutter speed cause the background to appear blurred. One example would be a race car travelling at high speed, by panning and allowing the background and turning wheels to blur, …

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Parfocal

What Does Parfocal Mean When Talking About Camera Lenses? When talking about photography and photographic lenses a ‘parfocal’ lens is a zoom lens that maintains focus when the focal length of the lens is altered. The opposite of a parfocal lens is a ‘varifocal’ lens. Parfocal lenses are extremely convenient because they allow a photographer to quickly alter their perspective of a scene without having to refocus. The advent of autofocus lenses and digital cameras has somewhat overcome the problems caused by using varifocal lenses as camera software is able to quickly and automatically refocus an image when lens focal …

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PC Card

What Is a PC Card and How Is It Used in Photography? A PC Card or ‘Printed Circuitboard Card’ is a credit card sized card which can be used to expand the available memory or storage space in a digital device such as a computer. When talking about photography PC Cards could be used in a number of ways. If your computer has PC Card slots then you could use PC Cards to add extra storage space to your device, this could then be used to store your photographs. You could also use a PC card to move photographs between …

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PCMCIA

What Is a PCMCIA Card and How Is It Used in Photography? A PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association)  Card or ‘Printed Circuitboard Card’ is a credit card sized card which can be used to expand the available memory or storage space in a digital device such as a computer. When talking about photography PC Cards could be used in a number of ways. If your computer has PC Card slots then you could use PC Cards to add extra storage space to your device, this could then be used to store your photographs. You could also use a …

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Perspective

What Does Perspective Mean When Talking About Photography? When talking about taking photographs the term ‘perspective’ describes the positional relationship between the photographer and the subject or scene being captured. The angle at which the photographer views the scene is called their perspective. If you were to stand on the roof of a building and shoot a subject below you you would be shooting from a high perspective, if you were lying on the ground shooting a subject above you you would be shooting from a low perspective. Choosing the best perspective when setting up a scene is a key element …

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Perspective Control Lens

What Is A Perspective Control Lens? Perspective Control is the name that Nikon gives to its tilt-shift lenses. For more detailed information on how they work and why you might want to use one, please view the tilt-shift lens glossary entry. Your browser does not support iFrame.      Additional Reading What Is A Tilt-Shift Lens? What Is A Macro Lens?  

Photo

What Is the Meaning of the Word Photo and How Is It Used When Talking About Photography? The word ‘photo’ comes from the Greek word for light, and when talking about photography it is used to describe a single image. When you take a picture using a camera you are capturing a photo. A photo may also be referred to as a ‘photograph’, this is a combination of the Greek words for light and drawing; A photograph is a drawing made of light. Someone who takes photos using a camera is a ‘photographer’ or someone who draws with light. The …

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Photo Slave

What is a photo slave is and how it is used when taking photographs? When talking about photography, specifically lighting, a ‘photo slave’ is a flash unit set to slave mode which will fire when it detects the output of another flash unit. a photo slave can be triggered by a cameras built in flash unit, or another flash unit in a group when you don’t have enough flash receivers for the lighting setup you are using. The biggest limitation of photo slaves and slave mode is that they require direct line of sight between the slave unit and another flash, this …

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PictBridge

What is PictBridge and How It Is Used in Cameras and Photography? When talking about cameras and photography the term ‘PictBridge’ refers to a photography industry standard which allows digital images to be printed directly from a digital camera without having to first be uploaded to a PC. PictBridge was introduced in 2003 and has been widely adopted by both camera and printer manufacturers; Digital images are printed by connecting a camera to a printer using a USB cable, the image is then selected by the user, which is in turn retrieved by the printer and printed.