Post-Processing & Retouching — 60 Terms Defined

Film Simulation Post-Processing & Retouching A colour and tone rendering designed to imitate the response of a specific photographic film.

Frequency Separation Post-Processing & Retouching px (radius) A retouching technique that splits an image into a blurred low-frequency layer of tone and colour and a high-frequency layer of texture.

Gradient Mask Post-Processing & Retouching A mask that fades an adjustment smoothly along a linear direction, digitally imitating a graduated filter.

HDR Merge Post-Processing & Retouching stops Combining bracketed exposures into one file holding a greater dynamic range than any single frame could.

Healing Brush Post-Processing & Retouching px (brush size) A retouching tool that copies texture from a source area while blending its tone and colour into the destination.

Highlight Recovery Post-Processing & Retouching stops The reconstruction of detail in bright areas where one or two colour channels have clipped but at least one has not.

Image Stacking Post-Processing & Retouching count Averaging multiple identical exposures to reduce random noise or to combine content across frames. SNR improvement = √n

Layer Post-Processing & Retouching count A stacked element in an image document that can hold pixels, adjustments or effects independently of the layers below it.

Layer Mask Post-Processing & Retouching A greyscale channel attached to a layer that controls where that layer is visible, with white revealing and black concealing.

Lens Correction Profile Post-Processing & Retouching A stored description of a lens's distortion, vignetting and chromatic aberration, applied automatically during processing.

Levels Post-Processing & Retouching levels (0-255) A tonal adjustment that sets the black point, white point and midtone gamma of an image or channel.

Liquify Post-Processing & Retouching px A tool that pushes, pulls, expands or contracts image areas as though the pixels were fluid.

Local Contrast Post-Processing & Retouching % Contrast measured between neighbouring areas rather than across the whole tonal range, which strongly affects perceived depth and clarity.

Luminance Noise Reduction Post-Processing & Retouching % Processing that smooths brightness variation between neighbouring pixels to reduce the appearance of grain.

Luminosity Mask Post-Processing & Retouching A mask generated from the image's own brightness values, restricting an adjustment to a specific tonal range.

Non-destructive Editing Post-Processing & Retouching An approach in which adjustments are stored as instructions rather than being written into the pixels of the original file.

Opacity Post-Processing & Retouching % The degree to which a layer or adjustment obscures what is beneath it, expressed as a percentage.

Output Sharpening Post-Processing & Retouching % A final stage of sharpening tailored to the size, medium and viewing distance of the finished image.

Panorama Stitching Post-Processing & Retouching count Combining several overlapping frames into a single wider image by aligning and blending them.

Perspective Correction Post-Processing & Retouching degrees Digitally transforming an image to straighten converging verticals or horizontals.

Post-crop Vignette Post-Processing & Retouching stops A deliberate darkening or lightening of the frame edges, applied relative to the cropped boundaries rather than the original ones.

Preset Post-Processing & Retouching A saved set of processing settings that can be applied to other images in one action.

Radial Filter Post-Processing & Retouching % A local adjustment applied within or outside an elliptical area, with a feathered edge.

Range Mask Post-Processing & Retouching A refinement that limits a local adjustment to pixels within a specified colour, luminance or depth range.