Browse All 840 Photography Terms A–Z

Platinum Print Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes A contact printing process using platinum or palladium salts, giving an exceptionally long tonal scale and great permanence.

PNG Files, Metadata & Workflow MB A lossless format with transparency support, designed for graphics and screen use rather than photographic delivery.

Point of View Composition & Visual Design The position from which a photograph is taken, encompassing height, angle, distance and orientation.

Portraiture Genres, Movements & Theory Photography whose subject is a person, aiming to convey something of their character, role or presence.

Positive Space Composition & Visual Design The area of the frame occupied by the subject itself.

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.

Postmodern Appropriation Genres, Movements & Theory An artistic strategy of rephotographing or reusing existing images to question authorship, originality and the circulation of pictures.

PPI Printing, Display & Output ppi Pixels per inch: the number of image pixels mapped to each inch of output. ppi = pixels / inches

Practical Light Lighting & Flash A light source that appears within the frame as part of the scene, such as a lamp, candle or neon sign.

Prefocusing Focus & Depth of Field m Focusing in advance on the spot where the subject will be, then firing as it arrives.

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

Prime Lens Optics, Lenses & Filters mm A lens with a single fixed focal length that cannot be zoomed.

Print Bleed Printing, Display & Output mm Image area extending beyond the intended trim line, so that no unprinted edge appears after cutting.

Print Crop Ratio Printing, Display & Output ratio The proportional relationship between a print's dimensions, which rarely matches a camera's native aspect ratio.

Print Head Alignment Printing, Display & Output A calibration routine that corrects for mechanical offsets in how the print head lays down ink in each direction.

Print Permanence Printing, Display & Output years The expected life of a print before visible fading or colour shift, under stated display conditions.

Print Resolution Printing, Display & Output ppi The density of image pixels mapped onto a printed surface, which together with the file's pixel dimensions determines the print size. Print size = pixels / ppi

Prism Refraction Motion, Video & Creative Techniques Holding a prism, glass or crystal in front of the lens to bend light and introduce reflections, flares and repeated fragments.

Product Photography Genres, Movements & Theory Photography of goods for sale, prioritising accurate description of form, colour and material.

Program Mode Exposure & Metering An automatic mode, marked P, in which the camera selects both aperture and shutter speed while leaving other controls to the photographer.

Projection Printing, Display & Output lumens Displaying photographs by projecting light through or onto a surface, for audiences rather than individual viewing.

ProPhoto RGB Colour & Colour Management A very wide colour space that encompasses almost all colours a camera can capture, including some outside human vision.

Protective Coating Printing, Display & Output A clear spray, laminate or varnish applied over a print to guard against ultraviolet light, moisture and abrasion.

Provoke Genres, Movements & Theory A short-lived Japanese photography magazine of 1968-70 whose grainy, blurred, high-contrast style challenged documentary convention.

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