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Photography vocabulary · Editing & Retouching

Contrast

Meaning in photography, with examples

/ˈkɑːntræst/nounCore term

In photography, contrast means: The difference between the light and dark areas of an image. High contrast has deep blacks and bright whites; low contrast looks flatter and softer.

In Turkish: kontrast

How it is used

A basic editing slider and a way to describe light: a contrasty scene, a low-contrast lens. You add, boost, reduce or pull back the contrast. Color contrast, such as orange next to blue, is a separate idea.

Example sentences

  1. Add a bit more contrast; the image looks flat.

  2. Midday sun creates too much contrast for a soft portrait.

Common collocations

  • high contrast
  • low contrast
  • boost the contrast
  • reduce the contrast
  • saturationHow strong and intense the colors in an image are. Zero saturation gives black and white; very high saturation looks loud and unnatural.
  • hard lightLight from a small or distant source, such as the midday sun or a bare flash, that creates sharp-edged shadows and strong contrast.
  • dynamic rangeThe range of brightness, from the darkest shadows to the brightest highlights, that a camera can record with detail, or that exists in a scene.
  • editTo improve photos after the shoot by adjusting things like exposure, color and cropping, and to choose which images to keep.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Editing & Retouching

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