Plain-language editing glossary

Image and document words

Document / project: The complete working file, including its dimensions and layers.
Canvas: The visible rectangular area that contains your composition. Artwork outside its bounds does not appear in the normal export.
Pixel: One small unit of image data. Width × height tells you how many pixels span the picture.
Raster: An image made of pixels, such as a normal photograph. Enlarging it cannot recreate missing detail.
Vector / path: A shape described by points and curves. A path needs visible fill or stroke, or another purpose such as a mask, to affect the finished picture.
Resolution: Often used for pixel dimensions; in print it can also mean how many pixels fit into an inch. Ask which meaning is intended.

Layer: A separate editable part of a document. Upper opaque layers cover lower ones.
Opacity: How visible a layer or stroke is. 100% is fully visible; 0% is invisible.
Transparency: An area through which lower layers, or an empty background, can show. Checkerboard represents empty transparency in the editor.
Mask: A separate map that controls visibility without deleting the original artwork.
Selection: A region that limits where an operation acts. It is not automatically a layer or a mask.
Clipping: Using the visible shape of a lower layer to limit an upper layer.
Blend mode: A rule for combining a layer’s colors with the layers below.
Flattened: Combined into one finished image, losing separate editable pieces in that copy.

Non-destructive: An edit that keeps its source available for later revision, such as a mask or editable adjustment.
Feather: A gradual transition along a selection’s edge.
Hardness: How sharp a brush edge is. Lower hardness gives a softer transition.
Foreground color: The main paint color selected in the toolbar, black by default.
Gradient: A transition between colors or opacity values.
Bit depth: How finely a color channel can represent tonal steps. It is different from pixel dimensions.
RGB: Red, green and blue light channels used for screen images.
CMYK: Cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink channels used in printing workflows.
Color profile: Information describing how color values should be interpreted. Use the profile your delivery workflow requires.
RAW: Camera data that must be decoded into an image; it is different from an ordinary finished JPEG.