Photography Acronyms

Have you ever been reading a photography forum or article online and seen some acronym you didn’t understand?

I think at least half of these are “common use” so study them to avoid checking this list!

Here you will find some more acronyms… Anyway here you have most of them.

100% crop – a crop of the original JPEG file or RAW converted file, no resizing allowed.
AA – anti aliasing
ACR – Adobe Converter RAW, the RAW converter included in PS
A/D – analog to digital converter
ADC – analog to digital converter
AFAIC – as far as I’m concerned
AFAIK – as far as I know
AF – auto focus
AKA – also known as
ARS – anal aperture
ASAP – as soon as possible
AS – aspheric, usually describing an AS ground lens
AV – Aperture Value settings
BG – background
B&G – bride and groom
Blocked – shadow information is clipped
Blown – data highlights are clipped
BS – bullsh!t
BTW – by the way
B&W – Black & White
CA – chromatic aberration
CB – color balance (AKA white balance)
C – Canon
CCD – charge coupled device
CF – compact flash
CF – custom function, Canon camaras
ch – channel, as in red, green, and blue channels
CMOS – complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor
CP – circular polarizer
CPL – Circular Polarizer
cPOL – circular polarizer
CRT – cathode ray tube
CW – Chuck Westfall, Canon’s technical sounding board
Digicam – digital camera
DNG – Digital Negative – Adobe’s proposed raw format
DO – diffractive Optics
DOF – depth of field at the object plane
DOF – depth of focus at the image plane
DPP – Digital Photo Professional (Canon’s RAW converter program)
DR – dynamic range
DSLR – digital SLR
EC – exposure correction
EV – exposure value
EVF – electronic viewfinder
EXIF – exchangeable image file format
FAIK – for all I know
FL – focal length
FOV – field of view
fps – frames per second
F-stop – a Stop
FWIW – for what it’s worth
GAS – Gear Acquisition Syndrome
GB – gigabyte
GND – graduated neutral density (e.g. GND filters)
HDR – high dynamic range
HSL – Hue, Saturation, and Lightness adjustments
IDIOT – somebody that makes lists (like this one)
IMHO – in my humble opinion
IMNSHO – In my not so humble opinion
IMO – in my opinion
IOW – in other words
IQ – image quality
IR – infra-red
IS – image stabilization
ISO – the “International Organization for Standardization”
KISS – the “keep it simple, stupid” principle
L – Canon’s Luxury line of lenses
LCD – liquid crystal display
LD – low dispersion, a type of glass used for a lens element
LMAO – laughing my “you know what” off
LOL – laughing out loud
LR – Lightroom, Adobe’s RAW converter program
LV – Live view
MA – micro adjustment (e.g. on the 1DmkIII camera)
MB – megabyte
MFDB – medium format digital back
MFD – minimum focusing distance
MF – medium format
mk – mark
MLU – mirror lock-up
M – Manual settings
MP – mega pixel
MUA – make-up artist
NDA – non-disclosure agreement
NDG – Neutral Density Graduated filter
ND – Neutral Density (e.g. ND filter)
NIB – New in Box
NI – Neat Image (noise reduction program)
N – Nikon
NN – Noise Ninja (noise reduction program)
Noob – a Newbie (new to the forum and/or photography)
NP – national park
NR – noise removal
NSFW – not safe for work
NW – noiseware
OBTW – oh by the way
Oly – Olympus
OMG – oh my God
OOF – out of focus
OP – the original poster of a thread
OT – off topic
OTT – over the top
Pano – a panorama created by stitching individual picture frames
Pics – short for pictures
PITA – pain in the “you know what”
PLS – please
POL – polarizer (linear POL “may” be assumed)
POS – a piece of “you know what, try sh!t for starters”
POS – point of sale
POV – point of view
PP – post processing (performed after the initial rendering).
PR – public relations
PS – Photoshop (image editor program)
P&S – point and shoot (e.g. P&S camera)
PS – power supply
PSP – Paint Shop Pro (image editor program)
PTGui – program for stitching individual picture frames into a panorama
RAW – a 16-bit format file, minimum of in-camera processing.
ROFLAMO – rolling on the floor and LMAO
ROF – ring of fire (AF point selection choice)
ROOTB – right out of the box
ROOTC – right out of the camera
RSP – Raw Shooter Premium (RAW converter program)
RTFM – read the “you know what” manual
SLD – super low dispersion, a type of glass used for a lens element
SLD – super-luminescent diode
SLR – single lens reflex (usually applies to a film SLR camera)
SOOC- straight out of camera.
Stop – a factor of two in illumination or light intensity
SWAG -scientific WAG
TB – terabyte
TC – teleconverter (usually 1.4X and 2X)
tele – telephoto lens (typical meaning)
TTL – Through The Lens
TV – Time Value (shutter speed) settings
ULD – ultra low dispersion, a type of glass used for a lens element
USM – ultra sonic motor
USM – unsharp masking
UWA – ultra wide angle (e.g. lens or perspective)
VR – Nikon’s equivalent of Canon’s “IS”
WAG – wild a$$ guess
WA – wide angle (e.g. lens or perspective)
WB – white balance
W/O – without
WTB – want to buy
WYSIWYG – what you see is what you get
YMMV – your mileage may vary
ZB – Zoombrowser, a canon program used for browsing

If you want me to include some more leave me a comment.