Photography Related Glossary & Reference (C)

Camera Flash - A device that creates an flash of light generally used to help illuminate a scene, that does not have sufficient light.

Catchlight - This is the white glare that appears in people’s eyes during photography shooting.

CCD - Charge-coupled device. This is an image sensor which is used in most digital cameras.

Center-Weight Metering - Most cameras have this light metering mode that concentrates analytical weight to the center of photo.

Channel - All digital images consist of pixels that are made up of primary colors. Basically the channel is one component of a color image.

Chromatic Aberrations - Color distortions that are a result of failure to evenly focus the lens.

Chrominance - The difference between a color and a specified reference color having a specified chromaticity.

Clipping - A defect in images, where the shadows cut off white or black, instead of fading out smoothly.

Clone - A wonderful tool for cleaning up backgrounds also known as rubber stamping in digital photography and imaging edit software, such as Adobe Photoshop, or JASC Paint Shop Pro.

CMOS - Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. A new type of image sensor.

CMS - Color Management System software that works to standardize images, compensating for differences in monitor, printer and scanner. The goal is to have the image look as accurate as possible when displayed.

CMYK - Cyan, Magenta, yellow and black. Primary colors used by printers to create all other colors. CMYK is a color model used in color printing.

Coating - A technique where chemicals are introduced to lens resulting in reduction of flares and reflections, therefore produces balanced-lit photography outputs.

Color Calibration - Tuning monitors, input and output devices to make sure that colors are properly displayed.

Color Channel - All digital images consist of pixels that are made up of primary colors. Basically the channel is one component of a color image.

Color Depth - Number of bits for each pixel in an image. The higher the bit depth, the greater number of colors there are. This is also sometimes referred to as bit depth.

Color Filter Array - Or CFA are filters placed over areas in a photo on an image sensor. Image sensor only read grayscale, thus color filter array is needed to capture color info.

Color Gamut - Also called gamut or color space. Complete subset of colors.

Color Matching Engine - Also called gamut or color space. Complete subset of colors.

Color Model - A method of representing color as a subset of colors.

Color Space - Also called gamut or color gamut. Complete subset of colors.

Color Temperature - Measurement of color expressed in Kelvin. Different light sources result in different temperatures.

Compact Flash - This is used as storage and is compatible with almost all digital cameras.

Compositing - A technique for placing one image on top of another one.

Continuous Auto Focus - This mechanism auto focuses constantly as scene changes and different objects move into focusing zone.

Continuous Mode - This mode is very useful for shooting moving objects as it lets you take photos one after the other continuously in a rapid succession. Also known as drive.

Continuous Tone - Images that are made up of continues areas of color rather than small patters of dots.

Contrast Detection - The ability to measures contrast in a scene and controls focus.

Contrast Ratios - Measures contrast in a scene and controls focus. Higher contrast results in sharper focus, and more defined, crisp imagery.

CRT - Cathode Ray Tube; special display device / monitor resembles the tube TV sets. This is the technology most widely used by older computer monitors, and still used by many corporation, students, and educational facilities.

CSS - A stylesheet language usually used to describe the appearance of HTML web pages. It centralizes the ability to control look & feel of the web content.

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