Photography glossary - B

B&W Black and white.

(Bulb) - letter on the shutter dial indicating that the shutter will stay open while the release is depressed.

Back focus - distance between the back surface of the lens and the image plane, when the lens is focused at infinity. Background - area shown behind the main subject in a picture. ....Lets read more

Photography glossary - C

C-41 - Standard chemical process for developing color
negative film.

Cable release - flexible cable used for firing a camera shutter.
Particularly useful for slow shutter speeds and time exposures,
when touching the camera may cause camera vibration and
blurring of the image.

Cadmium sulfide cell (CdS) - photo-sensitive cell used in
exposure meters. Fed by an electric current from a battery, its
electrical resistance varies according to the amount of light it
receives. ....Lets read more

Photography glossary - D

D-76 Developer for black and white films manufactured by Kodak.

DAM -Software - Digital Asset Management software

Daguerreotype - first practical and commercial photographic
process, introduced by Louis Daguerre in 1839. The sensitive
material comprised silver iodide, deposited on a polished silver
plated copper base. A positive image was produced by camera
exposure and mercury "development", which turned light struck
halides gray-white. The image was made permanent by immersing
the plate in a solution of sodium chloride. ....Lets read more

Photography glossary - E

E6 - Standard chemical process for developing
slide films.

Easel - device to hold photographic paper flat during exposure,
usually equipped with an adjustable metal mask for framing.

Eberhard effect - border effect occurring in a developed image. It
appears as a dense line along an edge of high density and as a
light line along an edge of low density. It occurs most often in
plates developed flat in solution that is not sufficiently agitated. The
effect was described by Gistav Eberhard in 1926. ....Lets read more

Photography glossary - F

f numbers f-stops A numerical designation (f/2, f 2.8, f3 etc.) indicating the size of the aperture.

Factor - number that tells how many times exposure must be
increased in order to compensate from loss of light.

Fahrenheit scale - scale of temperature named after its German
originator, G. D. Fahrenheit. On this scale, the freezing point of
water is 32° F, and the boiling point of water is 212° F. ....Lets read more

Photography glossary - G

Galvanography - technique of electroplating a gelatin relief image
created photographically to produce a photomechanical printing
plate.

Gamma - measurement used in sensitometry to describe the
angle made between the straight line portion of the characteristic
curve of the photograph emulsion and the base of the graph. The
gamma is the tangent of the angle so formed.

G curve - average gradient of a characteristic curve, describing
similar characteristics to gamma, but measuring the slope from a
line joining the lower and upper limits of the curve actually used in
practice. ....Lets read more

Photography glossary - H

Hand-held exposure meter - External exposure meter.

Halation - diffused ring of light typically formed around small
brilliant highlight areas in the subject. It is caused by light passing
straight through the emulsion and being reflected back by the film
base on the light sensitive layer. This records slightly out of register
with the original image.

Halogens -a group of chemical elements. In photography, three
of these, bromine, chlorine and iodine are used with silver to
produce light sensitive material. ....Lets read more

Photography glossary - I

IDll - Chemical developer for Black and White films from Ilford

IC-Card PC-Card.

iD Photo MO Disk The smallest rewritable optical storage medium for digital cameras. A joint development from Olympus, Sanyo and Hitachi Maxell. It features an amazing capacity of 730 MB. This means about 2,000 photos can be taken before the media needs to be changed. ....Lets read more

Photography glossary - J

Jaggies - Slang term for the stair-stepped appearance of a curved or angled line in digital imaging. The smaller the pixels, and the greater their number, the less apparent the "jaggies". Also known as pixilation.

JAVA - A programming language developed by SUN. Among its features is the possibility to program interactive software for the internet.

JCII - Japan Camera Inspection and Testing Institute. It is an
organization in Japan to monitor export quality of Japanese made
cameras. ....Lets read more