This is a list of definitions of photo editing terms, with links to articles that include them.
E
- Edge softness (1)Edge softness is a very common characteristic of lenses. In fact, even the best lenses resolve less detail at the edges of the frame than the center – though it's only when edge softness becomes visible to the naked eye that it becomes an issue. It usually goes uncorrected, even in software, except for DxO's lens correction profiles, which makes DxO's lens corrections more advanced than others.
- Effect (1)Any image adjustment that produces a ‘look’ characteristic of specific photographic or darkroom techniques. It can include infra-red effects, as created by infra-red film, a ‘polarising’ effect to simulate the results from using a polarising filter on the lens, a ‘tilt-shift’ effect to replicate the shallow depth of field of an extreme close-up and so on. Effects can sometimes be applied in-camera but are more likely to be added in software.
- Elements (Adobe) (1)Cut-down version of Adobe Photoshop designed for novices and enthusiasts. It comes with a handy Organizer app for managing your photos, but a lower-powered version of Adobe Camera Raw. You pay outright rather than via subscription.
- EXIF data (2)Date, time and shooting information embedded invisibly in digital photos by the camera. It includes the shutter speed, lens aperture, ISO setting and more. EXIF data is useful later on if you want to see how certain pictures were shot or search for photos based on their settings.
- Export (1)More and more photo editing applications now work non-destructively, so that the editing changes you make are stored alongside the image in a metadata file or within the software’s image browser, and are not applied directly to the image. To produce a photo with your changes ‘baked in’, you have to export a finished version of the image.
- Exposure (slider) (1)A simple adjustment in most photo editing programs for adjusting the brightness of the photo. In some software it will shift the tones up and down equally, but it's usually more subtle and designed to work more on the middle tones and not clip highlight or shadow details excessively.
- Exposure X (software) (1)Exposure X is an all-in-one photo browsing, organising and editing tool that concentrates on replicating classic film and darkroom effects but is also a very effective everyday image-editor, with fully non-destructive editing tools and support for virtual copies.
- External editor (2)Image-editing software can’t always do everything you need to an image, so most have the ability to use ‘external editors’ – they send the file to another program, where you make the changes you want to make, and then the edited version is sent back to your original software for any further work. This is how plug-ins work too, but the difference is that external editors are full-blown standalone programs. Only a few programs, such as Lightroom and Capture One Pro, support external editors.