Browse All 840 Photography Terms A–Z

Weather Sealing Cameras, Formats & Systems Gaskets and overlapping construction that resist the entry of dust and moisture into a camera or lens.

Web Gallery Files, Metadata & Workflow count An online presentation of a set of images for client review, selection or delivery.

WebP Files, Metadata & Workflow MB A web-oriented format offering both lossy and lossless compression at smaller sizes than JPEG and PNG respectively.

Wedding Photography Genres, Movements & Theory Photography covering a marriage ceremony and its surrounding events, combining documentary, portrait and detail work.

Wet Plate Collodion Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes A process in which a glass plate is coated with collodion, sensitised, exposed and developed while still wet.

White Balance Colour & Colour Management K and tint The adjustment that makes a neutral subject render as neutral, compensating for the colour of the light illuminating it.

White Balance Bracketing Colour & Colour Management mired steps Recording several versions of one frame at different white balance settings.

White Balance Preset Colour & Colour Management K A fixed white balance setting named for a common lighting condition, such as daylight, cloudy, shade, tungsten or flash.

White Level Sensors & Digital Capture ADU The numerical value at which a sensor's photosites are considered saturated, defining the clipping point of a raw file.

White Point Colour & Colour Management K / CIE xy The chromaticity that a colour space or display treats as neutral white.

Whites and Blacks Post-Processing & Retouching stops Raw processing sliders that set the extreme ends of the tonal range, independently of the highlight and shadow controls.

Wide-angle Lens Optics, Lenses & Filters mm A lens with a focal length shorter than the format's diagonal, taking in a broader view than the eye's natural perspective.

Wide-area AF Focus & Depth of Field An area mode in which the camera considers the entire frame when choosing what to focus on.

Wildlife Photography Genres, Movements & Theory Photography of animals in their natural environment, generally without interference or baiting.

Working Distance Focus & Depth of Field mm The clear space between the front of the lens and the subject at closest focus. Working distance = MFD − lens length − flange depth

Working Space Colour & Colour Management The colour space in which editing is performed, chosen for its gamut and neutrality rather than for display or output.

X-Trans Filter Sensors & Digital Capture An alternative colour filter array using a six-by-six pattern with green in every row and column. 6×6 repeating unit

XMP Files, Metadata & Workflow An extensible metadata framework that stores descriptive data and editing instructions in a structured, readable form.

Zebra Stripes Exposure & Metering IRE or % A live-view overlay of diagonal stripes marking areas above a set brightness threshold, used to judge exposure before the shutter fires.

Zone AF Focus & Depth of Field An area mode in which the camera selects automatically from a defined cluster of points rather than the whole frame.

Zone Focusing Focus & Depth of Field m Presetting a lens to a distance and aperture whose depth of field covers the range the subject will occupy, then shooting without focusing at all.

Zone System Exposure & Metering zones (1 zone = 1 stop) Ansel Adams's method of dividing the tonal range into eleven zones and placing chosen subject tones deliberately on that scale. Zone V = metered value

Zoom Burst Motion, Video & Creative Techniques seconds Changing focal length during an exposure so the scene appears to explode outward from the centre.

Zoom Lens Optics, Lenses & Filters mm A lens whose focal length can be varied continuously across a range while holding focus. Zoom ratio = f_max / f_min

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