I notice that I didn't update anything on this blog for nearly 1 year. Wohohoho, that long. The last post was about our angka..sawan. Dr SMS landed back to earth already but no update on my photo blog. There are lots of thing happening surround me but I've been busy lah.
I got Streamyx (that's Malaysian Broadband ISP) connection at home now, but I'm starting to wonder if I had time to fully utilize it. Aihhh so little time spend for myself
Back to my so called photography hobby topic, what's new aah. Well I meet a new photography buddy, Mr Shazman, which happend to be my current boss. Syiok aaa ada budy, we can share knowledge on photography anytime. We've been experimenting alot especially on lighting. Shazman bought a Digicolor V-300x studio flash set for about RM1500.
Since then I can pinjam his light for experimenting purposes. He also ask me lot of question and somtimes I can't answer him straight away because I forgot some photography terms.
So below you can find all the term involve in photography. If you still can't understand, open up your browser and go to Google laa buddy. Lots of answer you can find there.
Accessory shoe/Hot shoe. Bracket to hold a flashgun on top of a camera. Most are hot shoes with contacts to fire the flash. Modern cameras may have several contacts for auto-zoom and auto exposure functions of the flash. (Note this is the worst place for a flashgun for lighting!).
Acetic acid see Ethanoic Acid.
Achromatic. Type of lens designed to focus blue to red part of the spectrum to one focus. See also Apochromat.
Acutance developer. Sharpness enhancing developer for black and white photography. Tends to increase apparent sharpness at the edges of contrasting areas.
Additive printing. Method of colour printing which mixes blue, green and red light.
Advance photographic system (APS). Recent film format highly automated for ease of use.
Agitation. Agitatation of chemicals during processing. This keeps fresh chemicals in contact with the emulsion. Small tanks use inversion agitation. Tank is inverted once per second.
Anamorphic lens. Special lens which compress the vertical or horizontal plane of an image. Used for cine film photography.
Anti halation dye. Dye within a film to cut down non-image forming light or halation.
Aperture. The hole through which light passes on it’s way to the film. Most modern cameras have a manual or electronically controlled aperture. This controls the amount of light and the depth of field of the lens. The aperture ring is often click-stopped in the following sequence. f/1, f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22…The bigger the number(16,22) the Smaller the aperture and the Greater the depth of field. The smaller the number (1,1.4) the larger the aperture (more light) and the smaller the depth of field.
Apochromatic lens. Lens designed to reduce chromatic aberrations. All colours of the visible spectrum are brought into focus at the same focal point.
Archival processing. Treatment of films and prints to make them last as long as possible.
Aspherical lens. Lens with aspherical elements (the curve of the lens is not part of a sphere as in normal lenses) to correct lens aberrations.
Automatic exposure (auto-exposure). There are various types of auto-exposure and variations.
Aperture exposure-You set the aperture the camera sets the shutter speed, good for most types of photography.
Shutter priority- you set the shutter speed the camera sets the aperture. Good for sports /action photography.
Program- the camera sets aperture and shutter. Good for most photography but needs care due to lack of control. Many variations of basic program exist, they need to be used with thought and understanding of basic photographic principles.
Ball and socket. A head which swivels, allowing the camera to set at any angle. The best type of tripod head for still photography.
Barn doors. Adjustable flaps positioned in front of a light to control the light spread.
Base fog. Slight density on a light sensitive material prior to use. The image density has to be greater than this density to register.
Baryta based paper. Fibre based paper coating of Barium sulphate.
Bas-relief. Negative and positive images are bound slightly out of register.
Bellows unit. Adjustable bellows used between lens and camera to provide magnification or x-y motions.
Bleaching. Removing all or part of a prints density by chemical means Potassium ferricyanide or similar. May be used alone or as part of a toning process.
Boom arm. Side arm for a stand to support a light sources.
Bounce flash. Flash head, which angled to bounce light off a wall or ceiling.
Bracketing. Taking a sequence of identical shots with slightly different exposures.
For example +1 stop, normal, -1 stop. (Relative to normal indicated exposure). This gives a choice of printing for b/w and is essential for colour slide films (+ - 1/3 stop).
Brolly. Umbrella shaped device fixed to studio lights/flash to reflect or diffuse the light.
Bromoil. Old printing process.
Bulb (b). Shutter speed setting which allows you to hold open the shutter for long periods of time.
Burning-in. A darkroom technique, giving additional exposure to a specific area to darken it. See dodging.
Cable. A cable which screws into the shutter to fire the camera from a distance. May also be electrical.
Camera movements. Movements, such as rising front or tilt and shift on large format cameras. Movements allow the correction of converging verticals in a shot.
Camera shake. Blurring which occurs when the camera is moved during the exposure.
Catch lights. Reflected light that appears in the subject’s eyes.
C-41. process used to develop all current print film and B/W Chromogenic film.
Changing bag. Portable bag to load /unload film in total darkness.
Characteristic curve. Graph showing a film’s response to light. Indicates film contrast, exposure latitude and other characteristics.
Chromogenic film. A type of colour film used to produce a monochromatic image processed in C-41 chemicals. The image consists of dyes and gives smooth tones with exceptionally wide latitude and tonal range.
Circular polariser. This type of polariser is similar to a linear polariser except that they use a retardation plate.
Close up lens. Lenses which screw into a lens filter thread to allow closer focusing.
They are measured in diopters-the focal length divided into 1m for example 1.000/0.25 =4 diopters.
Co-axial socket. Socket on a camera for the connection of a flash lead.
Cold cathode illumination. A type of illumination used in large format enlargers.
Colour balancing filters. Placed in front of the lens or light source to correct a colour cast.
Colour cast. A colour bias produced by the type of light or faulty process or old film.
Colour sensitivity. How sensitive a film is too particular wavelengths of light.
Condenser. Lenses elements used to focus light in a projector or enlarger (before the negative or slide).
Colour temperature. Means of expressing the colour of light. Measured Kelvin (K)- Daylight=5,600 K (measured at 12.00 noon), tungsten light =3,200 K.
Contact print. A print made by laying a negative directly onto a sheet of printing paper and exposing it to light.
Continuous tone. Film or a print with displaying a full range of tones. Unlike a lith print with just black and white (no greys).
Contrast. The difference between light and dark areas.
Contre jour. Taking pictures into or against the light.
Converging verticals. The effect seen when you point a camera upwards to photograph a building so the subject appears to be failing backwards.
Copystand. Stand for copying prints or flat objects using a camera mounted on a column.
Correction eyepiece. Accessory lens for the viewfinder to adjust for peoples eyesight. Measured in diopters.
Covering power. The maximum area of image produced by a lens-must be larger than the lens format.
Cropping. Reducing the area of an image to give a more pleasing composition.
Data-back. Camera back that puts the date and other information on the film for record purposes.
Daylight-balanced film. Colour film balanced at 5 600 K to gives correct colour rendition in daylight or electronic flash.
Dedication. Flash gun which couples with a camera circuitry to give automatic setting of flash sync. and exposure.
Density. Opacity of film controlled by the amount of silver or dye produced by exposure and development.
Densitometer. Instrument to measure density of silver on film or paper.
Depth-of -focus. Distance film plane can be moved without losing sharp focus.
Depth- of -field. The amount of apparent sharpness about the point of focus. This extends 1/3 in front of the point of focus and 2/3 behind. It is controlled by three factors (for a given cicle of confusion). 1. Aperture 2. Distance 3. Magnification.
Depth of field button. Used on some cameras to give an idea of depth of field.
Developer. Chemical bath to make used to make a latent image visible. Converts silver halides into black metallic silver.
Dichoric colour head. An enlarger head which allows filtration to be dialled in. This alters the colour of light for printing. Glass dichoric filters are moved into the light path.
Diffraction. Bending of light rays when it passes the edge of an object. Diffraction causes unsharpness in lenses at small apertures.
DIN. See film speed.
Dodging. Giving less exposure to an area in a print to reduce density.
Drying cabinet. Cabinet for drying film or paper, fitted with a fan heater to enable rapid drying.
Dryer/glazer. Unit for drying fibre prints. Can be used for giving a high gloss surface.
Drying marks. Blemishes on film causes water deposits when film is drying. May be removed on the gloss side of the film by gently wiping with a soft damp tissue.
Dry mounting. Method of fixing photographs onto card using an adhesive tissue.
Dupe. Copy of an original print or slide.
Duplex metering. Method of exposure for back lit scenes. Two reading are taken, one pointing at the subject, the other pointing at the camera. The average of the two reading is used.
Duplicating film. Special low contrast film for copying slides.
Dye transfer. Method of making colour prints from three colour separation negatives.
DX coding. Bar code on film container to be read by the camera to give the ISO of the film.
E-4 Old colour slide film process.
E-6. Current process for developing slide films except Kodachromes.
Edge marking. Information marked on the edges of the film.
Emulsion. The light sensitive layer of a film or paper, consisting of silver halides suspended in gelatin.
Encapsulation. Sealing a print between two layers of plastic too protect it.
Enlarger. Equipment for projecting a negative or slide on to photographic paper to make enlargements.
Exposure. Intensity and time of light falling on photographic film or paper. Controlled by Aperture and shutter speed.
Exposure compensation. Means on a camera to dial in more or less exposure than indicated by the camera.
Exposure compensation. A feature found on many cameras that allows a pre-set amount of more or less exposure to be dialed in than would be set by the camera.
Exposure latitude. Amount of under or overexposure a film can take and still produce and still give acceptable results. Print films have much more latitude than slide films.
Exposure value. A combination of the aperture and shutter speed is the EV number. Some hand held lightmeters have an EV readout.
Extension tubes. Hollow tubes placed between the camera lens and body to increase magnification for close-ups.
Farmers reducers. Bleaching solution of sodium thiosulphate and potassium ferricyanide. Used to reduce density in films and negatives.
Fast lenses. Lenses that have a wide maximum aperture for their focal length. For example f 2.8 300mm is twice as fast as an f4 300mm. It lets in twice as much light.
Fibre based paper. Type of black and white paper. Emulsion coated onto a paper base.
Film back. Some cameras have a removable film back allowing mid-film exchange without film fogging.
Film formats.
35mm image area 24×36mm. 12 to 36 exposures.
Half frame. Half the size of the 35mm frame on 35mm film stock.
Medium format. Various sizes on 120 or 220 film stock (roll film ). 6×4.5cm, 6×6cm, 6×7cm 6×9cm.
Large format 4×5inch and 10×8inch.
Film speed. The sensitivity of a film. Now stated as ISO. the rating give a numerical rating of the sensitivity of the film.
Incorporating older ASA and DIN(logarithmic) speed.
Filters. Glass or resin optical accessories over a lens to change the properties of light.
Fisheye converter. Attachment for a lenses to produce a fish eye effect.
Fixer. Chemical used processing. Removes unexposed silver halides from an image to prevent blackening.
Flare. Light scattering through a lens lowering contrast. Lens hoods and smaller apertures help reduce flare.
Flashing. Technique to lower contrast of paper or film by pre-exposeing to a brief flash of light.
Flash diffuser. Material placed over the flash head to diffuse the light.
Flash head. Flash unit powered by mains. Used mostly in the studio.
Flashmeter. Measures flash output. Indicates the aperture required.
Flash synchronisation. Correlation of flash and shutter speed to ensure correct exposure.
Flash sync. speed. Fastest shutter speed usable with flash.
Focal length. Distance between the rear nodal point of a lens and the focal plane when the lens is set to infinity.
Focal plane. Imaginary line perpendicular to the lens where a sharp image is formed by the lens.
Focal plane shutter. Type of shutter used at the focal plane. Comprises 2 or 3 blinds of metal or cloth which travel in front of the film. This enable the lens to be remove and exchanged without exposing the film as with a SLR.
Focus finder. Instrument used under an enlarger to aid focusing.
Focusing screen. Screen in a camera which allows focusing of the image.
Focusing steps. Features of autofocus compacts. Each step is a fixed point the camera focus’s on. The more steps the better.
Follow focusing. Technique for action work. The camera is automatically or manually focused on a moving object.
Frames per second(FPSs). Indicates the number of photographs taken per second by a motorised camera.
Gelatin. The transparent material used in films and printable papers as a medium to hold the light sensitive silver halide materials.
Glazing. A technique of putting a glossy surface on fibre based papers using a dryer/glazer machine.
Gobo. A metal mask fixed over a photographic light projecting a focused image on the background. In the USA its a shield which directs the light so that it illuminates part of the seen.
Golden mean. A compositional method used to place your subject in the frame making a more pleasing picture.
Gold toner. A solution of gold chloride that reacts with the silver in a mono print basically swapping it with gold. A slight blue tone may result on fibre based paper.
Grain. Exposed and developed solid silver particles used to make up a visible image on film or paper.
Grey card. A sheet of grey card equivalent to 18%reflectance. This gives an accurate exposure measurement.
Ground glass Widely used in cameras to focus the image.
Guide numbers. Indicates the power of a flash unit. Normally given at 100 ISO in meters. The higher the number the greater the power.
Hair light. A light source used to light your subjects hair. Normally positioned to the side or back creating a halo.
Halation. Halation is caused by light reflecting off the film base and back into the sensitive layer.
Hammerhead flashgun. A large flash gun mounted on a handle which attaches to the side of a camera.
Hand tinting. A technique of hand colouring black and white prints using dyes or pencils.
Hardening fixer. Hardens the gelatin stopping it swelling to much in water also helps to protects it.
High key. Picture which is dominated by mid to light tones.
Highlights. The brightest parts of the image.
Holography. A type of photography using a Laser to produce a 3-dimensional image( a Hologram).
Hyperfocal distance. A distance setting and aperture combination on the lens which gives the maximum depth-of-field.
Hypo. Old term for fixer.
Incident light metering. Light measuring technique. Measures light falling on the the subject using a a translucent diffuser (often an interzone) Very accurate method when used correctly.
Infrared filter. Opaque filter that transmits only infrared radiation.
Input dial. A wheel used on some cameras to input setting such as aperture.
Instant return mirror. Found in all modern 35mm SLR and some medium format cameras. The front silvered mirror flips up at the time of taking and return after giving an almost uninterrupted view of the subject.
Internegative. A negative copy of the original transparency often used to control contrast.
Intervalometer. An interval timer for shooting for the same scene or object over a period of time.
Inverse square law.The law states that the light power emitted from a light source is quartered every time the distance is doubles.
ISO. An international standard of measuring film speed. Many other systems have existed. Most can be related to ISO and therefore the incorporated ASA and DIN speeds.
Joules. A measurement of electrical electrical power output.
Kelvin. Unit used to measure the colour temperature of light. 5500 K is the colour temperature of noon light daylight. Normal colour film is balanced.
Key light. The main light in a set up.
Knifing. Technique to remove spots from a print using a sharp scalpel.
Latent image. invisible image on an exposed film or print. Its made visible by development.
LED. Light emitting diode.
LCD. Liquid crystal display.
Leaf shutter.Type of shutter found in most medium format and all large format lenses.
Lens aberration. Optical faults which cause distorted or un-sharp pictures.
Pincushion distortion. Image points are displaced outwards. Edges are displaced outwards
Barrel distortion. Edges of frame are displaced outward to give a barrel like appearance.
Chromatic Aberration. Different wavelengths of light are brought to focus in different image plane behind the lens. Coloured objects cannot be sharply focused. Apochromatic lens help in bringing more wavelengths in focus at the same point. Spherical aberration. Light rays passing through the edges of the lens focus in front of the rays focused at the lens axis causing the edges to be unsharp. This is due the the spherical nature of the lens. May be corrected with aspherical design.
Diffraction. Light rays are scattered by the sharp edges of the aperture causing unsharpness.
Coma. Coma shaped patches of light from highlights of the image.
Field curvature. Image is focused as a curved rather than the flat surface of the film plane.
Rectilinear distortion Inability of a lens to record straight lines straight.
Lens converters Accessories used to alter the focal length or other functions of a lens. See Fisheye converters, Teleconverters and Macro converters.
Lens elements. The individual glass lenses which are combined to produce a compound lens.
Lens hood Also called a lens shade. Lens mount Mechanism which allows lenses to be fitted and removed from a camera. Each camera manufacturer has its own system.
Lens types
Standard lens Lens with a focal length which roughly matches the perspective and angle of view of the eye- 50mm in 35mm format, 80mm in 6×8cm and 150mm in 5 x 4 inch. .
Wide-angle lens. A lens with a focal length longer than the standard lens. Offers wider angle of view, greater depth-of-field and exaggerates perspective. In 35mm format 24mm, 28mm and 35mm are the most popular.
Telephoto lens A lens with a focal length longer than the standard in each format. Offers narrower angle-of-view, less depth-of-field and compresses perspective.
Flsheye lens. Extreme wide-angle lens which offers a 180. angle-of-view or more. Curvilinear distortion remains uncorrected so straight lines come out curved. There are two types of fisheye.
Full frame flsheye produces an image filling the whole frame.
Circular flsheye produces a circular image in the centre of the frame surrounded by a black border.
Perspective control lens. Special lens. with movement to allow correction of converging verticals.
Line film. High contrast monochrome film which eliminates almost all Intermediate grey tones. See lith film. Linear polariser Most common type of polarising filter and suits most manual focusing cameras. See Circular polariser.
Lith film. High contrast monochrome film which eliminates all grey tones. See Line film.
Low key. Picture which is mostly dark with tones ranging from mid-grey to deep shadow. See High key.
Luminosity. Measurable amount of light which is emitted by or reflected from a source or surface.
Macro converters. Reduce the minimum focusing distance of a lens.
Macro photography. Term used to describe the photographing of subjects at a magnification ratio of life size (1 :1) or greater. Often confused with close- up photography, which refers to reproduction of subjects between one- tenth life size (1:10)and life size (1:1). See Magnification ratio.
Mackie lines. Seen on Sabbatier effect prints, these are lines around definite edges or contours of the subject. See Sabbatier effect.
Macro mode. Setting on zoom lenses which allows you to focus closer than normal. See Magnification ratio. Magnification ratio Sometimes called reproduction ratio. Size of subject on a frame of film compared to its size in real life. If you photographed a subject 1cm long and it measured 1cm on a 35mm slide the magnification ratio would be 1:1. or life size.
Manual metering. Metering method where the photographer takes an exposure reading sets the shutter speed and aperture manually.
Masking frame. Sometimes called an enlarging easel. Adjustable blades. allow white borders around the edges.
Metering patterns. All camera meters read the light being reflected off the subject. Different models do it in different ways - some give you a choice of metering patterns.
Centre-weighted average. Common metering pattern found in SLRs and measures light from most of the image area, but pays particular attention to the central 40-60%.
Mirror lens.Telelphoto lens - typically with a focal length of 500mm. Uses lens elements and mirrors to fold the light path back on itself, allowing a more lightweight and compact design. Also called a catadioptic lens.
MTF. Stands for Modular Transfer Function. An objective means of assessing a lens’s resolving power- how well a lens can record fine detail - and image contrast.
Multi-coatIng. The delicate coating applied to lens elements to help prevent flare and ghosting.
MultIple exposure. Technique where the same frame of film is exposed several times, usually to different subjects.
Multiple flash. Technique where flash is fired more than once during a single long exposure - often with camera’s shutter locked open on B.
Multiple printing. Exposing more than one image to the same sheet of printing paper under the enlarger.
Negative carrier. Part of enlarger which holds the negative flat between the enlarger light source and lens.
Negative film. Most popular type of film which produces negative images when processed. These are then turned into positive pictures during printing.
Neutral density. ND filters are grey and have no effect on colour balance just the exposure - x2, x4 and x8 reduce exposure by one, two and three stops respectively.
Newton’s rings. Interference patterns which appear as concentric circles.
Off-the-film (OTF). Metering system first used in Olympus OM-2 and measures light falling on the film.
One shot developer. Developer which has to be discarded after being used. One-touch zoom See Zoom type.
Open aperture metering. Metering system found in the majority of modern SLRs. Takes exposure reading with lens wide open, rather than It having to be stopped down first. See Stop-down and Stop-down metering.
Open flash. Technique where camera’s shutter is opened - usually on B (Bulb) - flash is fired at the desired moment.
Panchromatic film. Type of film (or paper) sensitive to all colours, ie normal colour film, and has to be handled in complete darkness.
Pan-and-tllt head. Type of tripod head which allows the camera to be be adjusted horizontally and vertically.
Panning. Technique used by action photographers to give a powerful sense of motion.
Panoramas. Pictures which capture a broad sweep of landscape. Special panoramic cameras are available, See Film formats.
Paper safe. Darkroom accessory used to safely store printing paper.
Parallax error. Problem faced when using rangefinder and TLR cameras. The lens you view the subject with isn’t exactly the same as the lens used to take the picture. The difference causes parallax error and is evident close focusing distances.
PC socket. See Co-axial socket.
Pellicle mirror. Semi-silvered mirror which light can pass through during an Exposure to reach the film.
Perspective compression. Created by telephoto lenses - sometimes called tacking Reduces the apparent distance between object thus compressing perspective.
Photo CD. Compact Disc system which stores photographic images. Images are viewed on a TV screen by connecting it up to a TV screen.
Photoflood. Tungsten bulb with a colour temperature of 3400K. Overrun for greater light output,
Photogram. Photograph created by laying objects on a sheet of printing paper and exposing it to a light source.
Photomontage. Composite picture created from many different originals.
Photo opaque. Lightproof liquid used to touch up blemishes and marks unwanted are on lith negatives.
Photopearl. Tungsten lamp with a colour temperature of 3200K.
Picture libraries. Also called photo agencies. Hold work of photographers on file like a conventional library and make it available for sale to advertisers and publishers.
Piggy back mirror. See Secondary mirror.
Pinhole camera. Very simple camera which uses a tiny hole instead of a lens to admit light to film inside.
Platinum paper. Photographic printing paper which contains platinum in the emulsion rather than silver
Polaroid Instant film. Type of instant film which is automatically processed on removal from the camera to produce a print. The 35mm films need processing in a special unit. Polaroid back Camera back available to fit medium and large format cameras which holds Polaroid instant film.
Portrait lens. Term for lenses ideal for portraiture. In the 35mm format this means lenses between 85-135mm.
Posterlsatlon. Technique which involves producing positive and negative images on lith film from an original then re-copying them back on to conventional film in combination with brightly coloured filters to give unusual results.
Powerzoom. Motorised zoom lens found on some compacts and SLRs. Predictive autofocuslng AF mode found on some SLRs which predicts the speed of a moving subject and automatically adjusts focus so that the subject is in sharp focus.
Preflashlng. Pre-exposing film or paper to reduce contrast. Most commonly used with paper.
Prefocuslng. Technique involves focusing at a point, say, on the road and the camera is fired as the subject reaches this mark.
Primary colour. Red, green and blue are the three primary colours of light.
Pressure plate. Spring loaded plate fixed to the camera back which keeps the frame of film perfectly flat for optimum image sharpness.
Prime lens. Lens with a fixed focal length, eg. 28mm, 35mm. 85mm, etc. Print tongs Used to handle prints during processing.
Print washer. Accessory designed to ensure print. are fully washed and all traces of chemicals are removed, thus prolonging print life and reducing the risk of staining or fading.
Program. Facility found on some automatic SLRs which is used to alter the aperture and shutter speed combination chosen by the camera, thus affording more control.
Pull processing. Rating a film at lower speed than recommended then reducing the development time to compensate. Used when lighting conditions are extremely contrasty.
Push processing. Rating a film at a higher speed then increasing the development time to compensate. Used in poor lighting, so decent apertures and shutter speeds can be set. Increases contrast and grain.
Quartz halogen lamp. Tungsten lamp using halogen gas and quartz glass.
Quick release plate. Accessory for tripods or mono pods so that camera can be removed quickly.
Rechargeable batteries. Can be recharged when exhausted. Must be used with a suitable charger.
Reciprocity law failure. Film becomes less sensitive at very fast exposures or exposures longer than a few seconds. Colour shifts result and the film may need a longer exposure than normal.
Recycling time. Period a flash takes. to recharge after being fired.
Red-eye. Red blobs in the eyes of the subject, caused by direct flash bouncing off the retinas. Reduced by moving the flash away from the lens, or by asking the subject to first glance at something bright before posing.
Red safety filter. Filter under enlarger which flips in place to protect paper from unwanted exposure.
Reflected metering. Lightmeter measuring of the amount of light reflected by a subject.
Reflector. White, silver or gold surface used to reflect light on to the subject, softening shadows.
Reflex mirror. Mirror in an SLR which directs light for viewing, then flips out of the way prior to exposure.
Refraction. The change in the direction of light rays as they pass between different transparent substances, ie air to glass. or water to air.
Refractive Index Number which indicates the light bending power of a transparent substance.
Reloadable cassettes. Reusable film cassettes suitable for bulk loaded film.
Remote control release. Device which triggers camera from a distance without needing a connecting lead.
Reproduction ratio. The degree of magnification of a close up lens. See Magnification ratio.
Resin-coated paper. Plastic-coated photographic paper. Allows fast processing as it does not absorb chemicals and can be washed rapidly.
Resolution. Power of a lens or emulsion or a lens to resolve fine detail.
Reticulation. Film has a crackled look when damaged by a sudden change in processing temperature.
Retouching. The art of hiding dust marks and blemishes on a print by delicate painting with dyes or inks.
Reversal film. Film which gives a positive image w)without the need for a negative stage(slide film).
Reversal paper. Photographic paper which gives a positive image from a positive without another stage.
Reversing ring. An adapter which allows a standard lens to be reversed on the camera for use as a macro lens.
Rewind button. Button which allows an exposed film to be rewound.
Right angle finder. Accessory which lets you see the image from an angle.
Rim lighting. Bright edges around a back lit subject.
Ring flash. Flashgun which fits around the lens to illuminate close-ups.
Rule-ot-thlrds. A compositional theory which suggests that a subject or the horizon should be placed a third into the frame rather than in the centre. See Golden mean.
Sabattler effect. Achieved by re- exposing a partially developed print which is then fully developed. fixed and washed as nominal. See Mackie lines and Solarisationn.
Safelight. A light that enables you to see your way around the darkroom. Orthochromatic materials need red while I panchromatic ones need dark green.
Sandwiching. Slide sandwiching is a popular technique. combining two or more slides for creative and striking ‘images. Sandwiches are best copied on to a single sheet of film.
Saturation. Term used to express depth of colour in a picture.
SCA system A common flash dedication system used by brands such as Metz and Cullmann.
Scrim. A sheet of metal gauze to soften and diffuse light.
Secondary mirror. Sometimes called a piggy-back mirror. Reflex mirrors in average and spot metering SLRs use a special mirror. The main mirror lets through some light to a secondary mirror which then directs it towards the sensor. The rest of the light is directed to give the viewing image in the viewfinder.
Second curtain sync. Most focal plane shutters synchronize with flash using the first curtain of the shutter. Some camera/flashgun combinations have the option of synchronising with the second curtain - often called rear- curt,!in sync.
Selective enlargement. An enlargement of a small area of the negatives.
Selective focusing. Careful focusing helps to concentrate attention on one particular aspect of the subject. See Depth-of-field.
Selenium cell. A metering cell which generates its own power.
Selenium toner. A toner that helps to prolong print life produces red or blue tone. Resulting colour depends on paper.
Self-timer. A feature that gives a time delay between pressing the shutter release and the exposure being made.
Sensitometry. The study of a film’s sensitometric characteristics. Devices designed to expose film for testing are called sensitometers.
Sepia toning. Technique which gives a browny red effect on black & white prints for an ‘olde worlde’ look. Sepia (sometimes called sulphide) toner can be odourless or smell like bad eggs.
Shadow details. The darker areas of an image.
Silicon sensor. Commonly used metering cells. Respond almost instantly and have even spectral response.
Sliver halides. Light sensitive crystals used in the emulsion of film and paper. A typical emulsion of a printing paper it 30%’silver halide, 70% gelatin. The photographic characteristics of an emulsion depends on the silver halides, their shape, size and distribution. Single-shot autofocus See Autofocus. Slave units Fires the flash unit it’s attached to without the need for extra leads from the camera.
Slide duplicator.A unit for copying slides. Some duplicator are simple affair while others have built-in, fully controllable lighting and contrast control units. See Zoom copier.
Slide masks. Can be home or purpose- made and used to crop slides.
Slide mounts. Made of card or plastic to hold and protect slides. Also makes it possible to project them.
Slide projector. Unit with integral light source and optical system that is used to project slides.
Slide viewer. Compact portable gadget that incorporates its own lighting system to allow viewing.
Slow sync flash. Use flash with a slow shutter speed and you can obtain some wonderful effects. The flash freezes the subject while the slow shutter allows the subject to blur or records some of the ambient light.
Snoot. Gadget to direct light accurately where it’s needed. Frequently used with studio flash.
Softbox. See light tent.
Soft-focus. A technique to give romantic looking pictures. Commonly used for portraits and glamour photography.
Solarisatlon. Solarisation is extreme overexposure that results in the reversal of the heavily exposed areas and a loss of density. Sometimes confused with the Sabattier effect. See Sabattier effect.
Spectral sensitivity. How a film’s colour layers respond to light of different wavelengths.
Spectrum. White light can be split into the seven colour of the spectrum using a prism - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, Indigo and violet.
Speed. The ’speed’ of a lens is its maximum aperture. The wider the aperture the lens for that focal length the faster the lens is said to be( see aperture).
Speed Increasing developer. Gives a higher effective film speed than a normal developer.
Spllt-field filter. Special effects filter that allows you focus on a a subject one meter from the camera while retaining distance focusing.
Split toning. A technique used during selenium toning. If a monochrome print is pulled out and washed before toning is complete the mid greys are left untouched by the toner while the deep shadows have been toned.
Spotting. Another term for retouching.
Standard zoom. Commonly used to describe a zoom lens which covers the area of 28mm to 85mm focal lengths in 35mm photography.
Starburst filter. Starburst filters are etched to break up a point light source into a number of rays.
Stereo photography. Needs a camera with two lenses mounted next to each other. Resulting prints are viewed with a stereo viewer.
Still video. Uses two inch floppy disk or computer chip to store and electronic image.
Stop. In photography a colloquial used in reference with exposure. Opening up a shot means means you double the exposure; closing down a stop means halving the exposure.
Stop bath. Bath between developer and fixer. Stops development instantly.
Stop-down. Adjusts the lens aperture down, ie to a higher number and thus reducing the amount of light exiting the lens.
Stop-down metering. Metering technique which means the lens is stopped down to the required aperture. Not common nowadays. See Open aperture metering.
Strobe. Flash Americanism for flash. Here, it means flash which fires several times to record multiple images on film.
Studio flash. Mains flash designed for studio use. See Mono-blocs.
Subtractive printing. Colour printing technique using combinations of cyan, magenta and yellow light.
Superzoom. General term for 35mm format lenses with a focal length range of 28mm to 200mm or 80. SVC Still video camera.
Sync cable. Cable to link flash to camera.
T2 mounts. A lens mount system used to attach accessories such as slide copiers to cameras. Also used for some mirror lenses. Has no camera to lens linkage so operations such as aperture control are manual.
Teleconverter. A teleconverter is an optical accessory increases the local length of lens it’s attached to. The most common types are 1 .4x and 2x converters. A 1.4x will turn a 200mm Lens Into a 280mm and a 2x turns it into a 400mm.
Test strip. A strip of printing paper exposed in steps of Increasing time to assess the required exposure and filtration for your negative or slide.
Through-the-lens metering.Commonly known as TTL metering. A lightmeter is built into the camera body and takes the reading from the light passing through the lens.
Through the-lens viewing. What the lens fitted to your camera sees via a reflex mirror.
Thyristor. Power saving circuitry found in most auto flashguns.
Time exposures (T). A shutter speed similar to B. With ‘T’ first depression of the release opens the shutter. The second press shuts It.
Time lapse. A technique used to record a sequence of events over a period by taking pictures at regular. intervals. Some cameras have a built-In interval timer (called intervalometer).
Tonality. Relates to the strength of greys, whites and blacks in the print.
Toner A chemical solution used to change the colour of a print through bleaching and redevelopment.
Tone separation. A process sometimes referred to as posterisation.
Transformer. Two forms are available ~ either step up or step down. Some are stabilised for constant current flow.
Tricolour. A form of additive colour printing using three primary colours.
Tripod. A three-legged device for holding a camera steady.
Two-touch zoom. See Zoom types.
Tungsten balanced. A type of film balanced to record tungsten light as if It where natural light.
Tungsten lights. Several forms are available: photofloods, photopeals , tungsten halogen.
Umbrella. Used for bouncing light back from a flashgun. Available in white, silver or gold.
Universal developer. Developer for processing negatives and prints.
Upratlng. Underexpose a film and then over develop 10% compensate. See Push processing.
Vacuum pressure plate. Unique to the Contax RTS III. A system designed for the ultimate in film flatness.
Vanishing point. Point in perspective where receding lines appear to join. Distant railway lines, shot on a wide- angle show this effect.
Variable-contrast paper. Printing paper that features different grades which are accessed by coloured filters. Magenta filters give harder grades while yellow filters give softer grades. Combined the filters can maintain the exposure at different grades.
Vari-colour filters. Used in conjunction with a polarising filter. By rotating the polariser the colour of the image, created by the vari-colour filter, changes from one colour to another.
Viewing filter. Special filter that allows you to study the tonal relationships of a scene before making an exposure.
Vignetting. Technique to fade out towards the edges of a photograph. Soften the edges by using a soft spot filter. Alternatively hold back or burn in light from the edges of a photo, when printing. creates a white or black vignette. See Cut-off.
Voltage stabilisers Used in the enlarger’s mains transformer to stop fluctuation in electrical power,
Waist-level finder. Folding hood supplied as standard to many medium format cameras.
Wam-toned paper. Paper with silver chloride as well as silver bromide in emulsion to produce a warm tone. Agfa Record-Rapid is a popular example.
Water filter. Device that filters out grit and other nasties.
Wetting agent. Chemical used to reduce the surface tension of water. Added to the final wash, when processing films to improve draining and prevent drying marks.
Window mount. Bevelled aperture cut out of card. The card is then placed over a photograph.
X-rays. Invisible electromagnetic radiation beyond ultra violet on the spectrum.
Zone System. Made popular by Ansel Adams, it’s a method of visualising a scene in various shades of grey when shooting black & white and using the information to meter precisely. Used in conjunction with controlled development for accurate representation of the scene.
Zooming Effect. created by altering focal length of a zoom lens during a long exposure.
Zoom compact. Compact with a motorised zoom lens built-In. See Camera types.
Zoom slide copier. Simple accessory used to copy slides.
Zoom flashhead. Flashgun with adjustable head. Alters angle of beam to provide same coverage as the camera lens used.
Zoom lens. A lens with adjustable focal lengths within a set range.
Zoom type. Two types are available, one-touch and two-touch. One-touch lenses can be focused and zoomed using a single barrel twist to focus and push-pull to zoom. Two-touch lenses have separate rings to focus and to zoom, making them slower in operation but more precise.
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