Photoshop Terms A to Z - Glossary of the Letter "N"

NAPL: The National Association of Printers and Lithographers, an organization for the graphic arts.

Native Application: The application used to create a file and the default format used to save that file.

Natural: A color deemed “natural” such as ivory or off-white. Often, the term “cream” is used to describe a natural color.

Navigate: To browse to a file on the computer’s hard drive or a network drive, and sometimes a CD or DVD drive.

Navigator palette: Allows you to quickly change the viewing area of the file that you are working on.

Negative: When printing or working with a file, use the Negative option to invert the entire image, including background color and masks. When printing, Photoshop converts the entire image to a negative but not the preview or on screen version. When printing a negative, white becomes black and black becomes white. The term negative is also used to describe the “film” used to create photographs from 35mm and similar cameras.

Neutral ph Paper: Acid-free paper.

Newsprint: The type of paper used to print newspapers.

Newton Ring: A flaw in an image that looks often like a drop of oil.

Node: The points in which a path crosses.

Non-Image Area: In a print shop, it’s the term used to describe the part of the platen that does not accept ink.

Non-Impact Printing: The process of printing without actually touching the substrate. Laser printing is an example.

Nonreproducing Blue: Light blue that does not appear on graphic arts film. This is often used to create layout grids or to write instructions.

Noise: Unwanted distortions in an image. Generally, noise is applied to describe grainy areas of a photograph.

Non-Pareil: one-half of a pica. A pica is approximately 1/6 of an inch or a measurement of 12 points.

Notes tool: Use this tool to add both written and audio notes to Photoshop files. These notes can work in tandem with other Adobe products such as Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Novelty Printing: The process of printing on items like coffee mugs, keychains, pencils, balloons, etc.

This post is part of the series: Photoshop Terms from A to Z - A Glossary

Learn common and obscure terms used by Adobe Photoshop in this A-to-Z series.

1. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “A”
2. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “B”
3. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “C”
4. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “C” - Continued
5. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “D”
6. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “E”
7. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “F”
8. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “G”
9. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “H”
10. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “I”
11. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “J” and “K”
12. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “L”
13. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “M”
14. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “N”
15. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “O”
16. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “P”
17. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “P” - Continued
18. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “P” - Final
19. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “R”
20. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “S”
21. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “S” - Continued
22. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “T”
23. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “T” - Continued
24. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “U” and “V”
25. A Glossary of Photoshop Terms - “W”, “Y”, and “Z”