Photo Editing Terms 6 - T To Z
Thumb Drive
A Thumb Drive is one name for a USB Flash Chip. Other nicknames are Jump Drive and USB Keychain. The Thumb Drive comes in various sizes, like 256mb, and plugs into a computer's USB port. It's like having a pocket hard drive.
Thumbnail
A Thumbnail is a small version of a larger picture. Many browsing and editing programs use thumbnails to index a picture collection. Some programs will even generate Contact Sheets, which are basically page after page of thumbnails showing the entire collection or directory.
Uploading
Uploading is the opposite of downloading. Uploading involves sending a file from your computer to another system, either through a cable or over the Internet.
USB
USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. It's an industry standard for connecting things to computers. Most digital cameras and chip readers use a USB cable to connect to the computer. USB 2.0 is a newer and faster standard, but not every computer can handle the 2.0 speeds yet.
White Balance
White Balance is a camera setting used to compensate for changes in the color of light. Some artificial lights "tint" the color they project, so the camera's white balance setting is used to balance this back to a more normal color cast. If the camera's white balance was incorrect, then the photo editor has to account for this by changing the color scale. The program will use an area that was supposed to be white as the starting point, and will remap every other color in the picture accordingly.
Wizard
A Wizard in computer terms is a program that walks you through a process step by step. For example, a scanning wizard might ask a series of questions on color vs. black and white, automatic scratch removal, and image resolution, before it actually triggers the scanner.
Photo Editing
What Photo Editing Software Should I Use?
Workflow: The Digital Darkroom
Photo Editing Terms 1 - A To D
Photo Editing
Workflow: The Digital Darkroom
... into the computer. Plugging the chip into a chip reader also works well. Archive off a master collection, so that you don't overwrite the original with the edited version. Second, filter the collection. Delete the accidental shot of the photographer's knee and the portrait where the baby crawled out of ...
... trick. It also happens to be one of the best tools in the photo editor's drawer. Darkroom photographers discovered a trick for making pictures appear sharper. They would start with the negative they wanted to print, and would develop a positive of the same image. When they went to print the negative, ...
... that are still considered revolutionary today. It could do transparent backgrounds, animation through color cycling, lasso selection, brushes clipped from an image like the modern Stamp tool, and Animbrushes, which evolved into the concept of Tubes in Paint Shop Pro. Deluxe Paint was the perfect tool ...
... editing program. Using a selection tool like a "Lasso," select the foreground image, the "animal" that has to be set off from the "leaves and branches." Once it's selected, "Invert" the selection. Most photo editing programs have this option. In effect, it means "swap the selected areas for the unselected ...
... Light from a sunset, for example, is a rich golden yellow. Light from flourescent bulbs actually shows up as purple in some photos! If you really want your subjects to look like people and not refugees from a planet of purple-skinned strangers, you'll need to keep White Balance in mind. White Balance ...