  Luminous tracers have been used extensively to map the large-scale matter
distribution in the Universe. Similarly the dynamics of stars or galaxies can
be used to estimate masses of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. However,
assumptions need to be made about the dynamical state or how well galaxies
trace the underlying dark matter distribution. The gravitational tidal field
affects the paths of photons, leading to observable effects. This phenomenon,
gravitational lensing, has become an important tool in cosmology because it
probes the mass distribution directly. In these lecture notes we introduce the
main relevant quantities and terminology, but the subsequent discussion is
mostly limited to weak gravitational lensing, the small coherent distortion of
the shapes of distant galaxies by intervening structures. We focus on some of
the issues in measuring accurate shapes and review the various applications of
weak gravitational lensing, as well as some recent results.
