Phototrophy is the process by which organisms trap light energy (
photons) and store it as chemical energy in the form of
ATP and/or reducing power in
NADPH. There are two major types of phototrophy:
chlorophyll-based chlorophototrophy and rhodopsin-based retinalophototrophy. Chlorophototrophy can further be divided into
oxygenic photosynthesis and anoxygenic phototrophy. Oxygenic and anoxygenic photosynthesizing organisms undergo different reactions either in the presence of light or with no direct contribution of light to the chemical reaction (colloquially called "light reactions" and "
dark reactions", respectively).