Want to know more about photography theory and jargon? Here’s a selection of articles that explains some key terms and concepts in what is hopefully plain language.
Traditional photo editing is ‘destructive’. That means every adjustment you make permanently changes the pixels in the photo and there’s no way back unless you’ve saved a copy of the original and you’re willing to start again. ‘Non-destructive’ editing is fully reversible. You can go back and undo or redo all of your editing work at any point in the future. Naturally, there’s a catch
Aberrations, or optical imperfections, exist because no lens is optically perfect. Almost all lenses show aberrations from the ‘perfect’ image.
The whole topic of color management can get pretty dry and technical, but stick with it because there’s information here that’s useful and puts lots of other things in context.
The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of its width to its height. The larger the ratio, the ‘wider’ the image; the smaller the ratio, the ‘squarer’ the image.
Bit depth is an important concept in digital imaging if you want the best possible image quality and if you intend to manipulate images heavily.
Levels and curves can both be used to adjust the contrast in photos, but how are they different, which should you use and is one better than the other?
LUTs are the new big thing in photo editing software, but what are they, how do you use them and why do they matter?
HDR is a technique for photographing extra high contrast scenes, but how does it work and do you really need to shoot several exposures?
Split toning can give your black and white photos depth and atmosphere and can also be used for traditional single-tone effects.