Words To Know And Understand As You Explore The Combination Of Photography And Computers

Anti-Aliasing: Using software to soften and blend rough edges (called aliased).

Architecture: The basic components of a computer system, including the standards and instructions that define a specific microcomputer system.

Archival Storage: Using external media such as disks and CDs to store information long-term.

Artifact: Defects in an image or other recorded data created by the tool used to record or output.

Browser: A program that's used for examining sites on the World Wide Web.

Byte: A packet of information that consists of eight bits. Computers typically have eight-bit data pathways, making bytes the most efficient means of transmission data or instructions.

CD-ROM (CD-Read-Only Memory): A compact disk that contains information that can only be read, not updated or recorded over.

Chip: Common term for a computer-integrated circuit; the "brains" of a computer.

Chroma: The existence of color in an image.

CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black): These are the subtractive primary colors. They're used in so-called four-color processes because these processes produce the most photo-like look.

Continuous Tone (CT): The appearance of smooth color or black-and-white gradations as in a photograph. In CT images, there's no distinct line separating one tone from another.

Copyright: A legal term that denotes rights of ownership and, thus, control over usage of written or other creative material. Unless otherwise noted, assume all images are copyrighted and can't be fully used.

CPU (central processing unit): The "brain" of a computer system. It consists of the main chip (486, Pentium, etc.) and the necessary circuitry to transport information to and from it.

Data Compression: The use of algorithms to reduce the amount of data needed to reconstruct a file.

Dot Pitch: Typically used to evaluate a monitor's sharpness as a measurement of the distance between dots. A smaller number indicates a sharper monitor.

DPI (dots per inch): Indicates resolution of a peripheral as a measurement of the number of horizontal or vertical dots it's able to resolve in input or output.

Duotone: A black-and-white image created with color subtly added for additional tonal range or to create a tinted or colored appearance.

Dye-Sublimation (diffusion transfer): Printing technology that results in continuous-tone images by passing gaseous color dyes through a semi-permeable membrane on the media surface.

Dynamic Range: The difference between the highest and the lowest values, as in the brightest highlights and the darkest shadows in an image.

Feathering: Softening the edges of elements in an image by averaging the values of adjacent pixels.

File Format: A method for arranging the data that makes up an image for storage on a disk or other media. Some standard image formats are JPEG, TIFF and GIF.

FlashPix: An image file format that stores images at multiple resolutions and allows display at appropriate resolution without having to access highest resolution. Makes files load and read faster.

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format): A standard file format most commonly used for images on the World Wide Web. GIF reduces both resolution and color data.

Gigabyte (GB): A measurement of digital data approximately one billion bytes (1000 megabytes).

Gray Scale or (Grayscale): A black-and-white image composed of a range of gray levels as compared to an image with only black and white.

Inkjet: A low-priced digital printing technology where tiny droplets are shot at the paper to form characters or images.

Integrated Circuit: A highly engineered package of many circuits working together, usually in a computer chip; one building block of a computer.

Interpolation: A way of increasing the apparent resolution of an image by "filling in" the gaps between existing pixels.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network): International telecommunications standard that allows transmission of data, video and voice over the same phone lines.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group): A file format used with photographs and other color bitmaps. The JPEG format "compresses" image information to create smaller files. JPEG files do lose image data and, as compression increases, quality.

Kilobyte (K): 1000 bytes of memory.

Lossless Compression: Any form of file compression technique where no loss of image data occurs.

Lossy Compression: Any form of file compression technique where some loss of image occurs.

Megabyte (MB): One million bytes of memory.

OLE (Object Linking and Embedding): This system of directly linking data in files is built into Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. OLE can link an image or video and audio clips to another file in an application that supports OLE, and the data can actually be embedded in the application file. With OLE, as one file is changed, it will automatically be altered in the linked file.

Optical Resolution: The maximum physical resolution of a device. Optical resolution provides better quality than interpolated resolution, which uses software to create additional image information.

Pentium: A microprocessor chip manufactured by Intel available in Windows-based computers.

Peripheral: A piece of hardware that's not part of the CPU and allows some important function of the computer, such as scanning or printing.

Photo CD: A storage system for photographs developed by Kodak to use a CD as media.

Pixel: Short for picture element (pix/picture, el/element). The smallest element of a picture that can be controlled by the computer.

Plug and Play: A standard that allows peripherals to be installed fairly easily.

PPI (pixels per inch): The number of pixels per inch in an image, often used interchangeably with dpi.

Protocol: A standard set of values and procedures for exchanging data between computers.

Proxy Image: A low-resolution image used in some software programs that allows you to see changes in an image without actually affecting high-resolution files.

RAM (Random Access Memory): The computer's memory that's actually active for use in programs; comes on special chips.

Real-Time: The actions of the computer are seen at the same time as you perform them.

Removable Media: Any storage system package that can be removed from the data drive, such as a SyQuest cartridge or a Zip disk.

Resolution: The density of pixels in an image or the number of dots per inch a device, such as a scanner, can achieve.

RGB: The primary color system of a computer based on red, green and blue, the additive primary colors. Computer monitors display RGB-based screen images.

ROM (Read-Only Memory): A special type of permanent computer memory that can't be altered. It keeps its information even when the computer is shut down.

Scanner (drum, flatbed or slide): A sensing device that captures photos, slides or negatives and translates them into digital files for the computer.

SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface): A very fast system that connects peripherals to the CPU; called a "scuzzie."

Server: The central computer that connects other computers in order to network them all.

Service Bureau: A business providing image services such as photo CDs, slides or large prints.

Thermal Autochrome: A way of printing images, developed by Fuji Photo Film. Color dyes in a special paper are activated by heat, so no water or chemicals are needed for process.

Thermal Transfer: A way of printing that uses heat to deposit color on paper.

32-Bit Color: Eight bits in three color channels (RGB), plus a mask (alpha) channel, give 32 bits of color information for each pixel.

Thumbnail: A small, low-resolution version of an image.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format): An important bitmap image format common to most image-processing programs.

TWAIN: A standard protocol that allows communication from various types of scanners to the software.

24-Bit Color: Eight bits for red, green and blue create 24 bits of color information for each pixel.

Unsharp Masking (USM): A sharpening technique that looks at contrasting edges within an image and intensifies them.

VRAM (Video Random Access Memory): Memory for the video display from the operating system.

Video Board: A part of the CPU that processes display information for the monitor.

Virus: A malicious implant some warped individuals put into software that can cause failures of systems such as data or memory loss.

White Balance: A metering function that tells digital and video cameras how to correctly represent color based on the color temperatures of different light sources. Many cameras have automatic white balance; others let photographers adjust it manually.

World Wide Web: That part of the Internet where text, pictures and graphics come together in an integrated unit or page.

Zip: A file compression using PKZIP or WinZIP, two popular programs that reduce the size of a file, usually text, to make transfer of files easier.