Glass and photography terms
Glass uses a few names chosen for a photography community instead of a public scoreboard. This page gives you a quick reference for those names and points to the separate photography glossary for craft and technical vocabulary.
Glass terms
Appreciation: A private way to respond positively to a photo or comment. Only the photographer or comment author sees who appreciated it, and Glass does not show public counts. Read more in Community.
Bookmark: A private saved photo. Only you can see your bookmarks, including the fact you saved a photo.
Category: A photography genre, such as Landscape, Portrait, Street, or Wildlife. Glass defines the category list, and a post can use up to three. Categories organize discovery without hashtags. See Discovering photography.
Featured Series: A Series selected by the Glass team for a curated discovery collection.
Highlight: Editorial work published by the Glass team. Highlights include Spotlights, product announcements, Monthly Category roundups, and Glimpse into Glass stories.
Member: A person with a Glass account. Glass uses member because the community is funded by the people in it, not by advertising or the sale of attention.
Monthly Category: A photography theme featured for one month. Members can post work in the category, and the team publishes a curated roundup at the end of the month.
Patron: The membership for people who want to support Glass at a higher level. It includes Standard features, early access, a profile badge, exclusive app icons, and three gift memberships each year. See Membership and billing.
Post: One photograph shared on Glass, with an optional description and up to three categories. Use a Series for a group of photos.
Series: A collection of posts you can arrange and add to over time. It works well for an ongoing project, a trip, a 365 project, or a connected body of work. Learn how to build one in Sharing your work.
Spotlight: A type of Highlight centered on a Glass member, their photography, and their process.
Viewer: The free membership. Viewers can browse, search, appreciate, use all Glass platforms, and follow up to three members. Posting photos and creating Series require Standard or Patron membership.
The Community, Discovering photography, and Sharing your work articles explain how these parts of Glass fit together.
Photography terms
For definitions of aperture, bokeh, depth of field, exposure, focal length, golden hour, ISO, shutter speed, and other photography vocabulary, visit Photography Terms. Each entry focuses on the photographic idea, so this article does not duplicate the glossary.
For terms tied to uploaded files, display color, and viewing quality, see Image quality. Account and plan language lives in Membership and billing and Settings and account.