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A comprehensive alphabetical list of photographic terms and meanings.
"C" Format:- The film is 24 mm wide, and has three image formats:
H for "High Definition" (30.2 × 16.7 mm; aspect ratio 16:9; 4×7" print)
C for "Classic" (25.1 × 16.7 mm; aspect ratio 3:2; 4×6" print)
P for "Panoramic" (30.2 × 9.5 mm; aspect ratio 3:1; 4×11" print)
The "C" and "P" formats are formed by cropping. The full image is recorded on the film, and an image recorded in one aspect ratio can be reprinted in another.
The "C" format has an equivalent aspect ratio to a 135 film image. Most APS cameras (with the exception of some disposable cameras) can record all three formats; the format selection is indicated on the film by a series of exposed squares alongside the image area or recorded on the magnetic coating depending on the camera. In the absence of an operator-specified format, the machine printing an APS roll will use these indicators to determine the output format of each print.
CRC (Close Range Correction System):- means the lens optimizes itself as the distance changes. This is done with "floating elements" that move in relationship to others during focusing. This is most needed on macro and fast wide-angle lenses like the 35mm f/1.4 AI-s and 105mm F/2.8 AF-D Micro. The benefit to this is that it allows wide- angle and macro lenses to focus closer than they could otherwise while retaining great sharpness.
"Classic" format:- one of the three selectable Advanced Photo System print formats; identical to the 2:3 aspect ratio used in 35 mm photography and suitable for most general-purpose shots.
Camera Angles:- Various positions of the camera (high, medium, or low; and left, right, or straight on) with respect to the subject, each giving a different viewpoint, perspective or visual effect.
C-41:- Kodak's 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.
Callier effect:- contrast effect in photographic printing caused by the scattering of directional light from an enlarger condenser system. The negative highlights are of high density and scatter more light with little or no scattering from negative shadow areas, which are of low density. This gives a print higher contrast than a contact print.
Calotype process:- first negative/positive process, invented by W.H. Fox Talbot in 1839. Paper was coated with silver iodide and a solution of silver nitrate and gallic acid. After exposure the paper was developed in a silver nitrate solution.
Camera angles:- various positions of the camera with respect to the subject being photographed, each giving a different viewpoint and perspective.
Camera lucida:- lens and prism system through which a virtual image was seen, apparently appearing on the surface of the drawing paper.
Camera movements:- mechanical systems most common on large format cameras which provide the facility for lens and film plane movement from a normal standard position.
Camera obscura:- origin of the present day camera. In its simplest form it consisted of a darkened room with a small hole in one wall. Light rays could pass through the hole to transmit on to a screen, and inverted image of the scene outside. It was first mentioned by Aristotle in the 4th Century B.C. and developed through the centuries as an aid to drawing.
Camera shake:- movement of the camera caused by an unsteady hold or support. It is a major cause of un-sharp pictures, especially with long focus lenses.
Camera shake:- Movement of camera caused by unsteady hold or support, vibration, etc., leading, particularly at slower shutter speeds, to a blurred image on the film. It is a major cause of un-sharp pictures, especially with long focus lenses.
Canada balsam:- liquid resin with a refractive index similar to glass. It is used for bonding elements in compound lenses.
Candela:- unit which expresses the luminous intensity of a light source.
Candid Pictures:- unposed pictures of people and animals, often taken without the subject's knowledge. These usually appear more natural and relaxed than posed pictures. Capacitor. Electrical component once more commonly known as a condenser. Stores electrical energy supplied by a power source and can discharge it more rapidly than the source itself. Used in flash equipment, providing reliable bulb firing even from weak batteries, and supplying the surge needed for electronic flash tubes.
Candle meter:- also known as a lux and defined as the illumination measured on a surface at a distance of one meter from a light source of one international candle power.
Candle meter second:- unit of illumination related to exposure time, more often referred to as one lux- second.
Capacitor:- device that builds and stores electrical charges. Used in electronic flash and some forms of electronic shutters.
Capping shutter:- extra shutter used in some medium format cameras or in conjunction with a group of extreme high speed shutters.
Carbon arc:- see Arc lamp.
Carbon process:- contact printing process, introduced in 1866, using tissue coated with pigmented gelatin. The paper was sensitized in potassium bichromate and contact printed behind a negative in sunlight.
Carbon tetrachloride:- liquid used for removing grease and finger prints from negatives.
Carbro process:- early color print process using an adaptation of the carbon printing process.
Carrier:- frame that holds a negative flat for enlarging.
Carte-de-visite:- portrait photograph on a mount about the size of a postcard. Introduced in 1854, carte-de- visite became a social craze in many countries during the 1860s.
Cartridge:- A lighttight, factory loaded film container that can be placed in and removed from the camera in daylight. Some nature of film, like the infra red film, MUST not even try to load or unload film in any possible light existence, absolutely must be in total pitch dark condition to avoid fogging on film.
Cassette:- Light-trapped film container used with 35 mm cameras. Elliptically shaped film cassette designed especially for the Advanced Photo System that serves as the sealed, leaderless container for all System film whether unexposed, exposed or processed.
Cast:- Abnormal colouring of an image produced by departure from recommended exposure or processing conditions with a transparency film, or when making a colour print. Can also be caused by reflection within the subject as from a hat on to the face.
Catadioptric lens:- see Mirror lens.
Catchlight:- reflection of a light source in the subjects eyes.
Cathode ray tube:- evacuated bulb of glass containing pairs of plates between which electrodes pass.
Caustic potash:- high alkaline used in high contrast developing solutions to promote vigorous development. Highly corrosive and poisonous.
Caustic soda:- see Caustic potash.
CCD:- Electronic sensor used by all autofocus cameras, capable of detecting subject contrast; also an image-receiving device for video camera.
CC filter:- abbreviation for color compensating filter.CC filters are designed primarily for introducing or correcting color bias at the camera exposure stage.
Cds:-V Cadmium Sulfide (Cell):- A battery powered, current-modulating. light-sensing cell that was quite popular with lots of cameras exposure metering system and external metering devices. May be this extra will help, photo conductive material used in exposure meters as alternative to selenium-based or silicon blue photocells. Its electrical resistance decreases as the light falling on it increases. Cds meters use current from an external power source, such as a battery.
Centigrade:- scale of temperature in which the freezing point of water is equal to 0° and boiling point to 100° C.
Changing bag:- opaque fabric bag, which is light tight and inside sensitive materials may be handled safely.
Characteristic curve:- performance graph showing the relationship between exposure and density under known developing conditions. It can provide immediate comparative information on factors such as emulsion speed, fog level, and contrast effect. The study of photographic chemicals in this way is known as sensitometry.
Chemical focus:- point at which a lens brings the actinic rays to focus. In a modern fully corrected lens, chemical and visual focus coincide.
Chemical fog:- even, overall density on film or paper. It is exaggerated by over-development.
Chemical reducer:- see Reducers.
Chemical vapor:- method of exposing negatives in a closed container to a small amount of mercury of sulfur dioxide. After approximately 24 hours the film is developed normally. It produces interesting yet very inconsistent results.
Chiaroscuro:- light and shade effect. The way in which objects can be emphasized by patches of light, or obscured by shadow.
Chlorhydroquinone:- developing agent contained in warm tone developers.
Chloride paper:- printing paper with a silver chloride emulsion. Much less sensitive than bromide paper. Mainly used for contact printing.
Chlorobromide paper:- photographic paper coated with an emulsion made up of both silver chloride and silver bromide. Used for producing enlargements with a warm, slightly brownish-black image, especially if processed in a warm tone developer.
Chlorquinol:- alternate term for chlorhydroquinone.
Chromatic aberration:- A lens aberration producing an overall blurred image; the inability of a lens to bring all wavelengths of light (especially red and blue) into the same plane of focus; usually present in regular large-aperture telephoto and super-telephoto lenses; does not improve by stopping down the lens; correctable through the use of Iow Dispersion (ED, LD SD) glass. Basically, this aberration is caused by light rays of different wavelengths coming to focus at different distances from the lense. Blue will focus at the shortest distance and red at the greatest distance. Since the natural rays of light are a mixture of colors, each aberration will give a different value corresponding to each color thus producing blurred images. The inability of a lens to bring light from the same subject plane but of different wavelengths to a common plane of image or focus.
CI:-Contrast Index (sounds like composite index for stock market, ha!) Numeric rating indicating the optimum development contrast for negative materials.
Chromaticity:- objective measurement of the color of an object or light source.
Chromatype:- early type of extremely slow paper used for contact printing.
Chrome alum:- alternative term for potassium chromium sulfate.
Chromogenic development:- process in which the oxidation products of development combine with color couplers to form dyes during processing.
Chromogenic materials:- color photographic materials which form dyes during processing.
Chronocyclograph:- photograph used for the analysis of complex cyclic movements.
Chronophotography:- technique pioneered by Eadweard Muybridge, for recording objects in motion by taking photographs at regular intervals.
Cibachrome:- color printing process that produces color prints directly from color slides.
CIE standard:- system of standards adopted by the Commission Internationale de I'Eclairage, allowing accurate descriptions of colors.
Circle of confusion:- disks of light on the image, formed by the lens from points of light in the subject. The smaller these disks are in the image the sharper it appears.
Clayden effect:- desensitizing of an emulsion by means of exposure to a strong, brief flash of light.
Clearing agent:- processing solution used to remove stains or to cancel out the effect of chemicals left on the sensitive material left from previous stages in the process.
Clearing time:- length of time needed for a negative to clear in a fixing solution.
Clear-spot focusing:- method of lens focusing achieved by examining the image through a transparent area in a specific plane.
Cliche-verre:- designs painted on glass in varnish or oil paint, or scratched into the emulsion of a fogged and processed plate using an etching needle. The results are then printed or enlarged on photographic printing paper.
Click stop:- Ball bearing and recess or similar construction used to enable shutter speeds, aperture values, etc. to be set by touch.
Close-Up:- A picture taken with the subject close to the camera-usually less than two or three feet away, but it can be as close as a few inches.
Close-Up Lens:- A lens attachment placed in front of a camera lens to permit taking pictures at a closer distance than the camera lens alone will allow.
CMYK:- abbreviation for cyan, magenta, yellow and black. It is the colors used in a four color printing process.
Correction of Aberrations at Close Distance Focusing (or CRC):- In general, lenses are designed for maximum performance at infinity. Accordingly, when the lense barrel is fully extended to the shortest focusing distance, resolution is reduced. Although this is negligible for ordinary lenses, it becomes increasingly important in lense specially designed for close distance photography. Lense designers adopted a system where mechanism moves certain lense components as a unit automatically correcting for aberrations. This assures high lense performance throughout the focusing range.
Coated Lens:- A lens covered with a very thin layer of transparent material that reduces the amount of light reflected by the surface of the lens. A coated lens is faster (transmits more light) than an uncoated lens.
Color Balance:- How a color film reproduces the colors of a scene. Color films are made to be exposed by light of a certain color quality such as daylight or tungsten. Color balance also refers to the reproduction of colors in color prints, which can be altered during the printing process.
Coherent light:- light waves that vibrate with constant phase relationships. They can be produced by a laser or a combination of two prisms.
Coincidence rangefinder:- see Rangefinder.
Cold cathode illumination:- low temperature fluorescent light source common in many diffuser enlargers, which is inclined to reduce contrast and edge definition.
Cold colors:- colors at the blue end of the spectrum that suggest a cool atmosphere.
Cold-light enlarger:- enlarger using cold cathode illumination. A diffusion type of enlarger. These types of enlarger heads scatter the light more evenly across the surface of the negative. One advantage of the cold light head is that it can render more subtle tonal gradations and will minimize the effect of dust and scratches on the negative which are translated to the print.
Collage:- composition employing various different materials combined with original artwork attached to some type of backing.
Colour negative:- Film designed to produce colour image with both tones and colours reversed for subsequent printing to a positive image, usually on paper.
Colour reversal:- Film designed to produce a normal colour positive image on the film exposed in the camera for subsequent viewing by transmitted light or projection on to a screen.
Collodion:- soluble gun-cotton, dissolved in a mixture of ether and alcohol.
Collodion process:- also known as "wet collodion" was invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851-52. It was a great improvement over the earlier calotype process because because of the large increase in speed gained by exposing the plate while still "wet", but it had the disadvantage of requiring bulky equipment.
Color balance:- adjustment in color photographic processes ensuring that a neutral scale of gray tones is reproduced accurately.
Color balancing filters:- filters used to balance color film with the color temperature of the light source and prevent the formation of color casts.
Color circle:- chart of spectrum hues presented as a circle.
Color compensatory filters:- pale colored filters used to warm or cool subject colors.
Color contrast:- subjective judgment on the apparent luminous difference or intensity of two colors when placed close to one another.
Color conversion filter:- see CC filters.
Color developer:- developer designed to reduce exposed silver halides of black silver and at the same time create oxidation byproducts that will react with color couplers to form specific dyes.
Color development:- chemical treatment in the color processing cycle that produces the colored dye image.
Color head:- enlarger illumination system that has built-in adjustable filters for color printing.
Color masking:- pink or orange mask built into color negative film to improve final reproduction on the print.
Color mixing:- practical application of either additive or subtractive color synthesis.
Color Negative:- film designed to produce color image with both tones and colors reversed for subsequent printing to a positive image, usually on paper.
Color reversal:- film designed to produce a normal color positive image on the film exposed in the camera for subsequent viewing by transmitted light.
Color saturation:- purity or strength of color, due to the absence of black, white or gray.
Color sensitivity:- response of a sensitive material to colors of different wavelengths.
Color sensitometry:- method of determining the sensitivity of color materials.
Color separation:- process of photographic an image through filters to produce three black and white negatives that represent red, green and blue content.
Color synthesis:- combinations of colored light or dye layers that will collectively produce a colored image.
Colour temperature