Glossary
Remote photography glossary
Plain-English definitions of the terms behind remote and virtual shoots — from virtual photoshoots and casting to RAW capture, virtual rooms, and cloud delivery.
- Virtual photoshoot
- A photo session run over the internet, where a photographer remotely controls a real camera — usually the subject's own phone — instead of standing behind the lens. The sensor fires a genuine photograph, so you receive full-resolution files rather than a screenshot of a video call.
- Remote shoot
- An umbrella term for any photo or video session directed over the internet, with the crew distributed across different locations. The photographer or director controls a real camera remotely while the subject is somewhere else entirely.
- Remote photoshoot
- A photo session where the photographer and subject are in different places, with capture happening on the subject's device under live direction. It produces real, full-resolution photographs, not compressed frames from a video call.
- Virtual shoot
- A synonym for a remote shoot, common in fashion and casting. It describes a photo or video session directed over the internet rather than on location.
- Remote headshots
- Professional headshots captured through the subject's own phone under remote direction. One operator can hold the same framing, light, and settings across an entire distributed team, so the portraits read as a single session.
- Virtual casting
- A casting session held online, where talent appears from their phone and the team directs and captures remotely. It replaces gathering everyone in one room with a directed, like-for-like audition over the internet.
- Virtual open call
- An open casting call run online, so talent anywhere can submit or perform without traveling to a physical location. It scales a casting to a wide field while keeping submissions comparable.
- Self-tape
- An audition or casting video that talent records themselves, with no live direction. Self-tapes scale to large fields but are uneven, because no two are framed, lit, or performed under the same conditions.
- Live direction
- Directing a shoot in real time — voice guidance combined with remote control of the camera. The operator frames, adjusts, and captures as the session happens rather than reviewing footage afterward.
- Virtual room
- A browser-based session space where crew and clients watch and direct a shoot together. Viewers join from a link with nothing to install, so approvals happen live as the frames are captured.
- Remote camera control
- Operating a phone's camera from somewhere else — triggering the shutter and adjusting focus and exposure over the internet. On CLOS Pro this extends to ISO, shutter speed, white balance, and lens selection.
- RAW
- Unprocessed data straight off the camera sensor, saved without the compression a JPG applies. RAW files give a retoucher the most latitude to recover highlights, correct color, and sharpen detail.
- DNG
- Adobe's open, non-proprietary RAW format. It stores unprocessed sensor data in a widely supported container, so RAW files stay editable across different software.
- Apple ProRaw
- Apple's RAW format, which combines raw sensor data with computational processing on supported iPhones. It keeps the editing latitude of RAW while retaining some of the phone's computational photography.
- ProRes
- Apple's family of high-quality video codecs, built for editing and color grading rather than small file size. CLOS offers ProRes capture on Enterprise plans.
- H.264 / H.265
- Standard video codecs widely used for remote capture and delivery. They compress footage efficiently for storage and streaming while keeping playback broadly compatible.
- Full-resolution capture
- A file taken from the camera sensor at its native resolution, as opposed to a compressed frame grabbed from a video call. Full-resolution capture is what makes a remote photo usable for print, campaigns, and serious retouching.
- Cloud delivery
- Files uploading to cloud storage in real time as they are captured, rather than being exported and sent afterward. It lets clients review and select images while the shoot is still in progress.
- CLOS Cloud
- CLOS's built-in cloud storage, where captures land instantly during a shoot. It ranges from 1 GB free up to 1 TB on Pro, with non-expiring albums on paid plans.
- UGC
- User-generated content — photos and video made by creators or customers rather than a brand's own crew. Brands use UGC for its authentic, first-person feel in social and paid campaigns.
- Provenance
- The verifiable origin of an image — evidence of how and when it was actually captured. Provenance distinguishes a real photograph of a real subject from an AI-generated image.
- AI headshot generator
- Software that synthesizes portraits from a handful of selfies. The output is a synthetic likeness rather than a photograph, and it can drift from the subject's real appearance.
- AI CAM
- CLOS's AI-assisted framing mode for solo shoots, which guides a lone subject into a good frame. The capture itself remains a real photograph — the AI helps take the photo, it does not generate it.
- Tethered shooting
- Connecting a camera to a computer by cable so images appear instantly for review as they are shot. It is the in-person ancestor of real-time cloud delivery.
- Digitals
- Simple, unretouched photos that agencies use to show a model's current, natural look. Digitals prioritize an honest record of appearance over polished styling.
- Telephoto / ultra-wide
- The additional lenses on a modern phone beyond the main camera — a longer telephoto for tighter framing and an ultra-wide for a broader view. On CLOS Pro these are selectable remotely by the operator.
- White balance
- An adjustment that corrects the color temperature of an image so whites look neutral under different light. On CLOS Pro, white balance can be controlled remotely by the operator.
- End-to-end encryption
- A security method where content is encrypted on the capture device and only decrypted by the intended recipient. No one in between — including the network — can read the transferred files.