Browse All 840 Photography Terms A–Z

Optical Vignetting Optics, Lenses & Filters stops (EV) Corner darkening caused by the lens barrel physically clipping the light cone reaching off-axis parts of the frame.

Orange Mask Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes The integral orange-coloured layer in colour negative film that corrects for imperfections in its dyes.

Orthochromatic Emulsion Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes nm A black and white emulsion sensitive to blue and green but not to red light.

Out-of-gamut Colour Colour & Colour Management A colour present in an image that the destination device or space cannot reproduce.

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

Overcranking Motion, Video & Creative Techniques fps Running a camera faster than the intended playback rate, the traditional term for capturing slow motion.

Overexposure Exposure & Metering stops (EV) An exposure that records more light than the sensor can hold, driving the brightest tones to pure white with no recoverable detail.

Panchromatic Emulsion Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes nm A black and white emulsion sensitised to all visible wavelengths, rendering colours as plausible grey tones.

Panning Motion, Video & Creative Techniques seconds Following a moving subject with the camera during a relatively long exposure, so the subject stays sharp and the background streaks.

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

Paper Grade Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes grade (0-5) A number describing the contrast of a graded photographic paper, from soft grade 0 to very hard grade 5.

Paper Profile Printing, Display & Output An ICC profile describing how a specific combination of printer, ink and paper reproduces colour.

Paper Weight Printing, Display & Output g/m² The mass of a paper per unit area, used as a rough indication of its substance and rigidity.

Parfocal Lens Focus & Depth of Field A zoom lens that holds focus on the same subject as the focal length is changed.

Partial Metering Exposure & Metering A metering pattern reading roughly the central eight to fifteen per cent of the frame — broader than spot, narrower than centre-weighted.

Pattern Composition & Visual Design A repeating arrangement of shapes, lines, colours or objects across the frame.

Pentamirror Cameras, Formats & Systems A lighter, cheaper alternative to the pentaprism using a hollow arrangement of mirrors to perform the same image correction.

Pentaprism Cameras, Formats & Systems A solid five-sided glass prism above an SLR's focusing screen that corrects the image left-to-right and presents it at eye level.

Perceptual Rendering Intent Colour & Colour Management A conversion strategy that compresses the entire colour range so relationships between colours are preserved, at the cost of shifting every colour slightly.

Perspective Compression Composition & Visual Design The apparent flattening of distance between near and far elements when photographing from far away with a long lens.

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

Perspective Distortion Composition & Visual Design The exaggeration of relative size between near and far objects when photographing from very close with a wide lens.

Phase-detect Pixel Sensors & Digital Capture count A photosite masked on one side, or split in two, so it sees the scene through only part of the lens and can contribute to focus measurement.

Phase-detection Autofocus Focus & Depth of Field A focusing method that splits incoming light into two views and measures their separation to determine both the amount and direction of defocus.

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