Photoshop Concepts and Image Editing Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts, tools, file formats, and terms from Adobe Photoshop notes.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

A file format commonly used to display pictures and continuous-tone images in HTML documents that retains all color information for RGB images while compressing file size by selectively discarding data.

PNG (Portable Networking Graphics)

A file format supporting 8-and 24-bit images that produces background transparency without jagged edges and supports RGB, indexed-color, grayscale, and non-alpha channel bitmap mode images.

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)

A file format commonly used to display indexed graphics and color images in HTML documents, designed to minimize file size and electronic transfer time.

WBMP

The standard format for optimizing images for wireless devices like mobile phones, supporting 1-bit color containing only black or white pixels.

Red Eye Tool

A retouching tool that removes the red reflection caused by a camera flash in a subject's retina.

Contextual Task Bar

A floating menu in Photoshop that presents the most relevant next steps in your workflow, allowing direct adjustments to text alignment, spacing, and font style.

Crop Tool

A tool used to remove parts of a photo, focus image composition, and straighten photos using real-time information to automatically resize the image canvas.

Clipping Mask

A mask that uses the contents of a layer to isolate and protect top layers from editing while color changes, filters, or effects are applied to the rest of the image.

Alpha Channels

Storage locations for masks, which are grayscale images where areas painted black are protected and areas painted white are editable.

Adjustment Layers

Layers that allow you to make tone and color adjustments to an image without permanently altering pixel values.

Background Layer

The bottom-most layer in the Layers panel that is always locked, preventing direct changes to its blending mode or opacity order unless converted to a normal layer.

Text Layer

A layer automatically created when adding text, retaining vector-based text outlines until rasterized into pixels.

Eyedropper Tool

A tool used to sample tone or color values directly from an image.

Mixer Brush Tool

A specialized brush tool that emulates the wetness of brush bristles, combining surface texture with color application for realistic painting results.

Bitmap Images (Raster Images)

Resolution-dependent images using a rectangular grid of pixels, where each pixel is assigned a specific location and color value.

Vector Graphic

Resolution-independent graphics composed of lines and curves defined by mathematical objects that describe an image by its geometric characteristics.

Pixel

The minimum unit of information in an image, represented as a small colored square within a rectangular grid.

Resolution

The accuracy of detail in bitmap images, measured in pixels per inch (PPP/ppi).

TIFF

A flexible file format used to exchange files between applications and computer platforms, offering greater compression and compatibility than PSD files.

EPS (Encapsulated PostScript)

A file format accepted by most graphics and composition applications that requires a PostScript printer to print beyond screen resolution.

TARGA

A proprietary file format used for video production that supports millions of colors alongside alpha channels.

Photoshop PDF

A versatile file format containing bitmap or vector data that retains editing capabilities for vectors, objects, text, and layers.

Flatten

The action of combining all visible layers into the background layer to reduce total file size.

Path

A line created while drawing made up of straight or curved segments anchored by anchor points.

Quick Selection Tool

A selection tool that uses an adjustable round brush tip to paint selections, automatically finding and following defined edges in the image.

Polygonal Lasso Tool

A selection tool designed for drawing straightedge segments to form a polygon-shaped selection border.

Magic Wand Tool

A selection tool that selects areas of similar color without requiring path drawing, based on a specified tolerance or color gamut.

Object Selection Tool

A selection tool that automatically detects or isolates single objects like people or cars when a rectangle or lasso is drawn around them.

Gaussian Blur

A filter that blurs a selected area into an adjustable amount based on a bell-shaped weighted curve to produce a hazy effect.

Radial Blur

A filter that creates blur relative to a central point, emulating the movement of a camera that rotates or zooms.

Resampling

The process of altering image data by changing pixel dimensions or overall image resolution.

Duotone

In Photoshop, a term referring to monotones, duotones, tritones, and quadtones, which are grayscale images printed using one to four inks.

Opacity

The degree to which underlying layers are hidden or displayed, ranging from 1% (nearly transparent) to 100% (fully opaque).

Fill Opacity

A setting that controls the opacity of pixels, shapes, or text on a layer without affecting applied layer effects like drop shadows.

Canvas

The full editable workspace area of an image in Photoshop.

Guides

Non-printing visible lines that assist in alignment and precise positioning of elements within the workspace.

Liquify Filter

A filter used to push, pull, rotate, reflect, pucker, or bloat image areas, featuring Face-Aware capabilities to automatically detect and adjust facial features.