Welcome to the Life after Photoshop photo-editing A-Z. It’s very easy to use – just click a heading to expand a definition of that term. There are links to specific programs and many of the entries link to a tag which will show related articles. I hope you find it useful.
British vs American spellings
This A-Z uses British rather than American spellings, e.g. ‘colour’ rather than ‘color’. Apologies if this is confusing. This link may prove helpful.
T
- Targeted adjustmentThe Targeted Adjustment tool in Lightroom is used to drag on areas of an image to change the brightness, hue or saturation of specific tones. Some other programs have similar tools. It's often easier to modify areas of a picture directly in this way than it is to use sliders.
- Temperature (white balance)Temperature, or 'color temperature', is one of the key settings in white balance adjustments. Different light sources have different color temperatures, from yellow/orange for incandescent indoor lighting to blue for open shade under blue skies or twilight.
- Tethered shootingA technique used by professional studio photographers where the camera is connected to a computer and the computer is then used for controlling the camera, checking pictures as soon as they’re taken and then correcting and enhancing them as necessary before saving.
- TexturesTextures are a great way to add an 'analog' feel to a digital image. They can be relatively subtle, such as adding a 'paper' texture that simulates the fine pattern or fibres of art paper, or more dramatic, simulating the look of an old photographic 'wet plate' or unusual printing materials like tin or wood. Textures can also replicate the appearance of a scratched, stained or faded print.
- TIFF formatAn image file format that uses ‘lossless’ compression but produces much larger files than JPEGs. It’s sometimes offered as a file format on more advanced cameras but it’s more useful later on as an image file format for image editing and manipulation on a computer.
- Tilt shiftTilt shift lenses, or 'perspective control' lenses, have built-in lens movements which let you shift the lens up, down or sideways relative to the camera, or tilt it at an angle. The shift movement is good for correcting converging verticals in architectural shots, while the tilt movement has traditionally been used for depth of field control in studio photography.
- Time and date settingAll digital cameras record the time and date and embed it in the photo’s EXIF data. It’s important to set the time and date correctly on the camera because it’s used later on when you want to search for photos on your computer or sort them in chronological order.
- Timelapse
- Tint (white balance)A secondary white balance adjustment used alongside colour temperature for more complex light sources like fluorescent lighting. Colour temperature works across an amber-blue spectrum, while tint adds a green-magenta axis.
- Tonal Contrast (Color Efex Pro)A filter in Color Efex Pro, part of the Nik Collection, to adjust the contrast with specific brightness ranges. For example, if the shadow areas of a photo are looking rather flat, you can boost them with the Shadows slider and leave the rest of the picture unaffected.
- Tone curveThis is another term for the curve adjustments offered by most photo editing programs. You use tone curve adjustments to change contrast and brightness in the different tonal ranges within the picture.
- Tone Enhancer (ON1)An all-in-one tonal adjustment filter in ON1 Photo which offers control over Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows and more – and it has an expandable Curves adjustment panel too. You’d use it as a first stop for detailed and careful tonal adjustments to your photo.
- TonemappingA technique used by HDR software to ‘map’ the extremely wide brightness range of a high dynamic range image into an editable form where the extremes of shadow and highlight detail are preserved. It’s usually the first and sometimes the only step in making an HDR image.
- ToningToning is a popular technique in black and white photography where a chemical tint is added as the print is being developed. Sepia toning is popular for creating a vintage look, but selenium toning can add a richer, colder tone, while cyanotypes – strictly speaking, a different chemical process – have a much stronger blue tone.
- Topaz LabsSoftware company which publishes the Topaz Studio plug-in effects collection where you can try basic versions of each tool and upgrade to the full versions of those you want individually.
- Toy camera effectA deliberately low-quality image effect that mimics the retro look produced by cheap old film cameras. Pictures have added contrast and colour saturation and strong vignetting at the edges of the frame. Some toy camera effects add a colour shift to simulate old and out of date film.
- TransformChanging the perspective or scale of a photo or objects within the photo. Typically it can include straightening, scaling up and down, skewing or correcting converging verticals, for example.
- TypeThe ‘designer’ word for text.