AlienBees, studio lighting.

Adobe Camera RAW file format.

Auto Exposure.

Auto Focus.

The opening in a lens, analogous the iris of your eye, that admits light to the camera sensor. Aperture is expressed as an “f” number: a ratio of the focal length to the aperture diameter (f/1.8, f/2.0, f2.8, f/4, f/5.6, etc.). The larger the number, the smaller the aperture, which ultimately equates to less light reaching the sensor.

Aperture Value. Used to specify a particular aperture, allowing the camera to calculate the necessary shutter speed.

Auto White Balance.

Black and White.

Short for the word “background”.

The quality of out-of-focus areas of an image (generally the smoother, the better). Examples.

1. Taking photos with different exposure settings or other adjustments to ensure a “correct” capture.
2. A device that provides more separation between the camera and external flashes to reduce redeye and shadows.

Chromatic Aberration. A lens defect that produces color halos in areas of sharp contrast, often purple or red & blue.

The Critique Club.

Compact Flash media.

Composition.

The apparent magnification that results from a lens used on a sensor that's smaller than 35mm. The smaller image area captured must be enlarged more than a 35mm frame to reach a given print size, so the resulting image is magnified (1.6X on Canon consumer DSLRs, 1.3X on higher end Canon DSLRs, 1.5X on most Nikon, Fuji, Pentax and Sony DSLRs, and 2.0X on Olympus and Panasonic DSLRs) compared to an image taken at the same focal length with a full frame camera.

Versions of Adobe's Photoshop software (the de facto standard of image editing software).

Drew & Langdon: the owners of DPChallenge.com. Anger at your own risk.

Color desaturation.

Digital Image Pro. A discontinued graphic editing software package from Microsoft.

Adobe's digital negative format, a “standard” alternative to RAW file formats. *Note that DNG files are not considered valid originals for DPChallenge entries unless recorded in that format by your camera.

Does Not Meet Challenge. Refers to an entry that doesn't appear to fit the challenge topic. *Note that this is not grounds for disqualification.

Depth of Field. Refers to the range of a given image that's in focus.

DPChallenge.com

DPCPrints.com

Dots per inch. The number of printed dots per square inch of a print. The more dots per inch, the smoother and generally higher quality the print will be. The dimension in pixels of your image on any given length divided by the DPI will give you the size of your print for that dimension. For example, if you had a 3000 x 2000 image, printing at 100 DPI would yield a 30“ x 20” print. Printing that same image at 1000 DPI would yield a 3“ x 2” print.

Digital Photography League, a side contest based upon the average score of “teams” in regular challenges.

Disqualification.

A Digital Single Lens Reflex camera (see SLR).

The range of luminosity (dark to light) apparent in an image.

Evaluative through-the-lens flash metering. Found on Canon cameras.

Electronic viewfinder. A camera format that typically uses a separate sensor to display the scene on a miniature monitor in the viewfinder.

Exchangeable image file format, which is capture-related information embedded into (most commonly) JPEG files.

Flash Exposure Compensation. Adjusts the camera's flash output to be stronger or weaker than the automatically calculated strength.

For Auction, see Buy/Sell Rules.

Frequently asked questions.

1. DPC FAQ - [[http://hyperbolical.org/dpcfaq/|mk’s Unofficial FAQ for DPC

Typically, a lens with a maximum aperture larger than f/2.8 (f2.0, f/1.8, f/1.4. etc.). By admitting more light to the sensor, such lenses allow faster shutter speeds in low light.

A low power light or reflector used to brighten the foreground in back lit subjects.

Full Frame. A camera sensor the size of a 35mm frame (currently limited to high-end DSLRs).

Field of View. The area visible in your frame.

1. Free Study.
2. For Sale, see Buy/Sell Rules.

Free Study Marathon. A side challenge where participants agree to enter and compete in regular Free Studies.

For Trade, see Buy/Sell Rules.