Glossary

Welcome to MyPhotoCentral’s photographic terms glossary. Here you will be able to look up most if not all terms, concepts , abbreviations and acronyms that relate to one field of photography or another. Not only that, but you will also be able to look up related information. For example, looking up “Filters” will bring up the term definition, as well as all the different types of lens filters available and a brief explanation of how they work.

  • 18 % gray cards
  • 18% gray
  • 35mm
  • 35mm equivalent
  • A-D Converter
  • Aberration
  • Absolute resolution
  • Active auto focus
  • AF area mode selector
  • AF-A or AI Focus
  • AF-S or One-Shot auto-focus
  • AI Servo (or AF-C or Auto-focus Continuous Continuous-servo AF)
  • Aliasing
  • Aperture
  • Aperture priority mode
  • Aperture ring
  • Artificial lighting
  • Artificial lighting - Continuous lighting
  • Artificial lighting - Flashes (speedlights)
  • Artificial lighting - Strobes
  • Back focus
  • Background
  • Background compression
  • Balanced fill-flash
  • Balancing elements
  • Ball head
  • Barrel distortion
  • Bokeh
  • Bounce lighting
  • Bracketing
  • Bridge cameras
  • Bulb setting
  • Burning
  • Cable release
  • Camera shake
  • Candid photography
  • Catchlight
  • CCD
  • Central shutter
  • Chromatic aberrations
  • CMOS
  • Color temperature
  • Coma
  • Compact cameras
  • Continuous shooting speed / drive-mode / burst rate
  • Contrast
  • Contrast detect auto-focusing
  • Cropping
  • Depth of field
  • Diaphragm
  • Diffused lighting
  • Digital zooming
  • Dodging
  • Double exposure
  • Electronic shutter
  • EV or Exposure Value
  • EVIL cameras
  • Exposure
  • Exposure compensation
  • Extension tubes
  • F-number
  • F-stop
  • Field of view
  • Film advance
  • Film speed
  • Filter holders
  • Filter stacking
  • Filters
  • Filters - C-PL or Circular polarizers
  • Filters - Center ND filters
  • Filters - Graduated neutral density filters
  • Filters - Neutral density filters (solid)
  • Filters - Reverse graduated neutral density filters
  • Filters - Star effect filters
  • Filters - Warming filters
  • Fixed focus cameras
  • Fixed focus lens
  • Focal length
  • Focal plane shutter
  • Focus assist lamp
  • Focus breathing
  • Focus hunting
  • Focus lock
  • Focus range
  • Focus tracking
  • Foreground
  • Four point lighting system
  • FPS
  • Frame
  • Framing
  • Front curtain flash sync
  • Front focus
  • Global shutter
  • Golden hour
  • Guide-number
  • HDR
  • High contrast
  • High-key images
  • Highlights
  • Hot-shoe
  • Hyperfocal distance
  • Image plane
  • Image stabilization
  • Incident light
  • Infinity
  • Interchangeable lens cameras
  • Intervalometer
  • ISO
  • LCD panel
  • Leading lines
  • Leaf shutter
  • Lens barrel
  • Lens cap
  • Lens speed
  • Lighting arrangement
  • Lighting ratio
  • Long exposure
  • Low contrast
  • Low-key images
  • Magnification ratio
  • Main command dial
  • Manual focusing
  • Manual mode
  • Megapixel
  • Metering modes - Center-weighted metering
  • Metering modes - Matrix metering
  • Metering modes - Spot metering
  • MILC
  • MTF
  • Negative
  • Overexposure
  • P mode
  • Panning
  • Parallax
  • Parallax correction
  • PASM
  • Passive auto focus
  • Phase detection auto-focusing
  • Plane of focus
  • Point & Shoot cameras
  • Point of view
  • Positive and negative space
  • Prime lenses
  • PTZ
  • RAW
  • Reflex camera
  • Rolling shutter
  • Rule of thirds
  • Second curtain flash sync
  • Shadows
  • Sharpness
  • Shutter
  • Shutter cycle
  • Shutter lag
  • Shutter priority mode
  • Shutter speed
  • Slave Flash Units
  • Slow-sync
  • SLR
  • Soft box
  • Soft focus
  • Standard lenses
  • Street photography
  • Symmetry
  • Sync-speed
  • Telephoto lenses
  • The golden ratio
  • The Phi grid
  • The sub-command dial
  • Three point lighting system
  • Time-lapse
  • TTL
  • Types of light - Backlight
  • Types of light - Fill-light
  • Types of light - hard light
  • Types of light - Key light
  • Types of light - Soft light
  • Types of lighting technique - Backlighting
  • Types of lighting technique - Broad lighting
  • Types of lighting technique - Butterfly lighting
  • Types of lighting technique - Front lighting
  • Types of lighting technique - Loop lighting
  • Types of lighting technique - Rembrandt lighting
  • Types of lighting technique - Short lighting
  • Types of lighting technique - Sidelighting
  • Types of lighting technique - Split lighting
  • Types of lighting technique - Top heavy lighting
  • Underexposure
  • Vignetting or light fall-off
  • Wedding Photojournalist
  • White balancing
  • Wide angle lenses
  • Zoom lenses