Browse All 840 Photography Terms A–Z

Burst Rate Cameras, Formats & Systems fps The number of frames a camera can capture per second in continuous drive mode.

Butterfly Lighting Lighting & Flash A portrait pattern with the key placed directly in front of and above the face, casting a small butterfly-shaped shadow beneath the nose.

C-41 Process Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes minutes at °C The standardised chemical process for developing colour negative film. 3′15″ at 38 °C

Cable Release Cameras, Formats & Systems A mechanical or electronic remote that fires the shutter without the photographer touching the camera.

Calotype Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes An early paper-negative process, patented by Fox Talbot in 1841, allowing multiple prints from one exposure.

Camera Cage Cameras, Formats & Systems A rigid frame that surrounds a camera body, providing mounting points for monitors, microphones, handles and rigging.

Camera Height Composition & Visual Design m The elevation of the camera above the ground, which controls the viewpoint's relationship to the subject.

Camera Obscura Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes A darkened room or box in which a small aperture projects an inverted image of the outside world onto an inner surface.

Camera Profile Colour & Colour Management A description of how a particular camera model renders colour, applied during raw conversion to translate sensor values into a colour space.

Camera Slider Motion, Video & Creative Techniques cm A short track on which a camera moves smoothly in a straight line.

Caption and Context Genres, Movements & Theory The text and setting accompanying a photograph, which largely determine how it is understood.

Caption Field Files, Metadata & Workflow characters The IPTC field carrying a written description of what the image shows.

Capture Sharpening Post-Processing & Retouching % A modest first stage of sharpening applied to compensate for softening introduced by the sensor, the low-pass filter and demosaicing.

Card Formatting Files, Metadata & Workflow Erasing a memory card in the camera to restore a clean file structure before reuse.

Cat's-eye Bokeh Optics, Lenses & Filters The lens-shaped, off-round rendering of out-of-focus highlights near the frame corners, caused by optical vignetting.

Catadioptric (Mirror) Lens Optics, Lenses & Filters mm A long lens that folds its light path with curved mirrors as well as glass, achieving great focal length in a short, light barrel.

Catalogue Files, Metadata & Workflow count A database recording every image in a collection along with its metadata, previews and editing instructions.

Catalogue Backup Files, Metadata & Workflow MB A copy of the catalogue database, holding every rating, keyword, collection and editing decision.

Catchlight Lighting & Flash The reflection of a light source visible in a subject's eye.

CCD Sensor Sensors & Digital Capture A sensor type in which charge is shifted across the chip to a single output amplifier for conversion.

Central Composition Composition & Visual Design Placing the primary subject at or near the centre of the frame.

Centre-weighted Average Metering Exposure & Metering A metering pattern that averages the whole frame while giving most of the weight — typically 60 to 80 per cent — to the central area.

Channel Mixer Post-Processing & Retouching % An adjustment that builds each output channel from a weighted combination of the red, green and blue input channels. Out = aR + bG + cB

Characteristic Curve Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes density vs log exposure A graph plotting a film's resulting density against the logarithm of the exposure it received. D vs log H

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