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The following is a list of terms related to
photography.
More commonly known as 35 mm format or 35 mm film, it is the most popular film format. The term '135' was introduced by Kodak as a designation for the 35 mm photographic film, which is the film gauge of the format, 35 millimeters (1.4 in). The image frame is 36 mm wide by 24 mm high, with a diagonal measurement of 43.27 mm. Sometimes used interchangeably with full format (which is more specifically a sensor format in digital cameras).
A lens with a focal length mounted on a camera body with a film format or sensor size different than 35 mm format will frame the same subjects at the same distance from the camera (or said alternately, will have the same angle of view) as a 35 mm camera mounted with a lens using the 35 mm equivalent focal length. For example, a 50 mm lens mounted on a Micro Four Thirds camera, with a crop factor of 2 (compared to 35 mm format) will produce an image with a similar framing, from the same distance, as a 100 mm lens on a 35 mm camera.
A color digital sensor format that uses a dichroic prism to split the incoming light into three narrower spectra centered on red, green, and blue wavelengths. Each color-separated spectrum is imaged by a dedicated CCD sensor.
A property of a lens or other optical system that causes light to spread out into a blur spot, rather focus to a point. The two general types of aberration are monochromatic and chromatic aberrations. Monochromatic aberrations are due to the geometry of the lens, independent of the wavelength of light traveling through the system. The effect of chromatic aberrations is dependent upon the wavelength, or color, of the light in the lens. [1]
A means of depicting an image that does not have an immediate association with the object world. Abstract photographs are often created through non-traditional uses of photographic equipment, processes, or materials.
A color space developed by Adobe Systems in 1998. Covers approximately 50% of the colors in the CIELAB color space, with a wider gamut than sRGB.
Taking images from an airborne platform, such as airplane, helicopter, or drone. Kite aerial photography is a specific type of aerial photography.
A type of photography where a camera with attached lens is mounted over the eyepiece of another image-forming lens system, such as a telescope, spotting scope, or microscope, with the camera lens taking the place of the human eye.
A positive photograph on glass made by a variant of the wet plate collodion process. Viewed using reflected light. Often mistaken for daguerreotype images.
Non-digital photography. Usually refers to film photography, but also includes any photography that uses chemical processes to capture images on paper, glass, or plates.
Primarily used in cinematography, a form of optical lateral compression that is used to capture a wide view of a scene onto a film frame with a narrower aspect ratio. This allowed filming wide-screen movies onto 35&mm film or other formats that had narrower fields of view than typical movie screen formats. The optical lateral compression is achieved through the use of a cylindrical lens element. The lateral compression resulted in characteristic artifacts such as prominent horizontal lens flare and vertically-oblong blur spots.
The angular extent of a scene imaged by a camera. The angle of view is determined by the film or sensor dimensions, the focal length of the lens, and the projection type of the lens.
A lens that corrects for spherical and chromatic aberrations for three wavelengths of light, as opposed to the more common achromatic lens, which only corrects for two wavelengths.
The hole or opening through which light travels in a lens or optical system. The amount of light from a constant source traveling through a lens is proportional to the area of the aperture. But most calculations for characteristics such as exposure and depth of field are based on the 1-dimensional measure of the aperture (diameter). While most apertures are rotationally-symmetric about the lens's optical axis (i.e., circular, or regular polygonal shaped), some apertures exhibit only lateral symmetry (such as anamorphic lenses), or no symmetry.
Stands for Additive System of Photographic Exposure, designed as a means to simplify exposure computation. The system uses a base-2 logarithmic scale to convert multiplication and division in the camera exposure equation to addition and subtraction of exposure steps.
A photography sub-genre that emphasizes capturing buildings or other architectural structures in an aesthetically pleasing way. Often requires use of specialized techniques or tools, such as shift movements on view cameras or perspective control lenses, to capture large subjects at often short distances while reducing or controlling perspective distortion. Problems arising in architectural photography include: capturing the three-dimensional aspect of the subject; light of the subject; rendering of substance and texture; the concept of the architecture; and the environment in which the subject is located. [2] [3]
A lens element whose surface profiles are not sections of a sphere or cylinder. The more complex surface profile of the lens element is designed to reduce or eliminate spherical aberration and reduce other optical aberrations such as astigmatism, as compared to a simple spherical-profile lens. [4]
A type aberration where rays that propagate through the lens in two perpendicular planes converge on different foci.
Photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial event, and areas of the night sky. Often involves specialized techniques and equipment to compensate for difficulties and limitations such as atmospheric distortion, low light levels, and the rotation of the earth. Astrophotography usually describes a sub-discipline of amateur astronomy, using cameras and telescopes available to, or made, individuals rather than institutions. [5] [6]
An early color photography process patented in 1903 by Auguste and Louis Lumière. Autochrome was an additive color mosaic screen plate process.
A mode of modern cameras that automatically focused the camera's lens on a selected point or area.
The appearance of bright, typically circular unfocused spots in an image, due to camera flash or light directly behind the camera reflecting off of small aerosol particles in the air (such as small water droplets, dust, and smoke particles) back to the lens, between the camera and subject. [8] Backscatter 'orbs' are often the explanation for supposed photographic evidence of paranormal activity.
Simple cameras with reduced capabilities and controls, and correspondingly reduced complexity, meant for the beginner and inexpensive camera market. While many box cameras had simple two-position focusing (near vs. far), most had non-interchangeable lenses with focus fixed at its hyperfocal distance to maximize the range of apparent sharpness for most subjects. Most box cameras also had limited aperture and exposure control, although some could should in bulb mode when used with a flash. [11] Similar to modern disposable cameras, the first Kodak box camera came with a roll of film pre-installed; when all of the film frames have been exposed, the camera was sent to Kodak for the film to be processed. Unlike disposable cameras, the Kodak box camera was reloaded with film, and returned to the customer for use.
A type of oil print process with a medium sensitive enough to light to be used with an enlarger, unlike previous oil print processes. The process produces prints in oil pigments on a bromide or chlorobromide base.
The variation in the contrast of images produced during the production of film images based on the manner of illumination. When light is projected through a film plane through a condenser lens, the light is highly directional, resulting in points in the photographic film receiving light from only one direction. If instead the light projected through a film plane first goes through a diffuser, the diffuse light results in points on the photographic film receiving light from wider (diffused) area. The effect is named after André Callier, who investigated and measured the effect in 1909. [12]
The Callier factor, or Callier quotient, Q, describes the ratio of attenuances between directed (Ddir) and diffused (Ddiff) bright-fields: Q = Ddir / Ddiff. Because diffusion necessarily attenuates light, Q will always be greater than 1.
An early photographic process invented in 1835 by William Henry Fox Talbot. A negative is produced on paper coated with silver iodide. The process allowed for a high number of prints to be made from a single negative, eventually overtaking the Daguerrotype due to the ability to copy the negative so many times, even though the prints were usually of lower quality due to the surface variations and difficulty maintaining the flatness of paper. [13]
lit. 'dark chamber', an optical device that captures an external scene inside a dark, light-tight box. The principle of imaging inside a dark chamber dates at least as early as Aristotle. [14]
A device to capture images on photographic film or imaging sensor.
The diameter of the area of highest precision or resolution in image space (i.e., on the film or camera sensor) due to refractive properties of light through the optical system. The light rays emanating or reflecting from a point on the focused object can converge to an area of confusion of a certain size. It is the goal of precision optics, and good photographic techniques, to minimize size of the circle of confusion. [15] The circle of confusion is not directly tied to or a result of lens quality, but is most important in determining depth of focus capability, and therefore depth of field. [16]
A negative process that required a photographic plate (i.e., glass) had to be coated, sensitized, and exposed while still wet. Thus this process was also known as the wet-plate process. Invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851, it was widely used, such as by American Civil War photographer Matthew Brady. Ambrotype was a sub-type wet collodion plate process. [17]
A property of radiative light, whereby the color of related light is related to the temperature of the black-body radiator. Lower-temperatures correspond to red and orange color of the light. Higher color temperatures correspond to blueish or whitish color of light. The color temperature should not be confused with the perceptual sense of the light: so-called "warm tones" (reds and oranges) are colder color temperatures than "cool tones" or hues, which are relatively high color temperatures. [18]
[23]
[16]
Usually denoted N, defined at the ratio of the focal length of the lens, f, to the diameter of the aperture or entrance pupil: N = f/D. Thus a larger f-number N corresponds to a smaller relative aperture, whereas a smaller f-number corresponds to a larger relative aperture. Lenses with a larger maximum aperture (and thus a small f-number N, say, f/2) are called fast lenses; conversely lenses with a smaller maximum aperture, say N = 6.3 (f/6.3), are called slow lenses. [25]
A measure of how strongly a lens converges or diverges light; it is the inverse of the lens's optical power. Usually denoted with a hooked or script f, focal length is loosely (and imprecisely) defined as the distance from the lens to the film or imaging sensor when the lens is focused at infinity. Conceptually, this is found from solving the thin lens equation for f when the object distance is set to infinity (∞). [26]
Denoted by the Greek letter γ, gamma is a nonlinear relation describing degree of contrast to which an image is developed or produced. It can be considered to be an optical compression (and corresponding decompression, or expansion) factor in the encoding and decoding of an image. [28]
A type of photography that draws from portraiture, fashion, pin-up, and figure photography, historically primarily capturing women. It usually accentuates and emphasizes the sexual or gender forms of the subject. [29]
The science and practice of capturing fast-moving subjects such as explosions, projectiles and ballistics, [31] especially so as to appear to freeze the motion of the subject, or of taking images at a high sampling or frame rate. High-speed photography requires sensitive imaging media, fast shuttering mechanisms and timing, and fast and/or powerful lighting sources. [32]
Usually denoted H, the focus distance that maximizes the depth of field, from half the hyperfocal distance to infinity, for a given aperture number N, acceptable circle of confusion c, and focal length f, so that . [33] [34]
A device used to measure the amount of light falling on a subject from the scene. The incident light meter takes its reading from the position of the subject, next to or in front of. Incident light measurement helps the photographer correctly expose a scene because it does not measure or is fooled by the reflectances of objects, or the subject itself, in the scene. [35]
Photography with films or sensors whose spectral sensitivities extend into the near-infrared spectrum, from around 700 nm to 900 nm for common subjects (including portraits, landscape, and architecture), up to 1300 nm for scientific imaging. There is no fundamental difference between typical visible-spectrum color or black-and-white photography and infrared photography, and as such is easily accessible to photographers wanting to expand their creative tools and techniques. In the digital era, a camera with the infrared hot mirror removed is necessary in order to capture the infrared spectrum. Additionally, a so-called infrared filter is used to block some or all of the visible light spectrum. [36]
The most recent version of the Kodak Kodachrome transparency film before its discontinuation.
An early form of printing whereby the image is formed from metallic silver, but the actual sensitive medium is iron salt. [37]
A collection of techniques used to capture the phenomenon of electrical coronal discharge.
A form of photography that draws from the traditions of landscape art, developed from the landscape as a backdrop to frame and contextualize the subject, into a style that emphasized the landscape itself as the subject of the art. [39]
A camera (typically view camera) using 4×5 film size or larger, including 5×7 (5 in × 7 in [13 cm × 18 cm]), 8×10 (8 in × 10 in [20 cm × 25 cm]), and other. [40]
[41]
A synonym for describing a lens's aperture. A fast lens has a comparatively wide maximum aperture, corresponding to a lower f-number, therefore allowing more light through it, enabling a faster shutter speed to achieve the same exposure value. Conversely, a slow lens has a comparatively narrower maximum aperture and larger f-number, thus requiring a slower shutter speed to achieve the same exposure value. [43] [44]
A camera using a film or sensor size larger than 35 mm format (24 mm × 36 mm [0.94 in × 1.42 in]) and smaller than 4×5 format (10 cm × 13 cm [4 in × 5 in]) or larger view cameras. [45]
A broadly-defined field of photography that overlaps or encompasses genres such as bird photography, flower photography, insect photography, wildlife photography, mountain photography, underwater photography, and techniques such as portraiture and macrophotography. Nature photography is often distinguished from other forms, such as fashion photography, as an appreciation of how things are, rather than posing and staging the subject for a more appealing aesthetic. [46]
The techniques and art of photographing outdoors between dusk and dawn. Night scenes are typically characterized by the lack of general lighting, and the high contrast between subjects and background that may not be as apparent during daylight. Often surfaces such as bright walls, wet surfaces and puddles, and other reflective areas are used as fill light to provide the otherwise lacking light in a scene. [47]
The creation and art of photographing the nude human form or any part that would be considered nude or semi-nude. Photographing the nude body may be for artistic and creative purposes, or for commercial purposes. The display, presentation, and distribution of nude photographs can be controversial, and can overlap with pornography and the laws governing it. [48]
A scene with a wide field of view, typically accomplished with a (usually cropped wide angle lens, special-purpose panoramic camera, or by stitching together several shots that cover the scene. When stitching individual shots together, best results are achieved when the camera is rotated about its no-parallax point, in order to minimize parallax / perspective shift. [49]
A photographic process where a negative image is created on a paper, to create the final print of a photograph, rather than from film base. Paper negative process is relatively simple and accessible process for amateur photographers. [50]
A photograph created without a camera, by placing objects directly onto photosensitive paper and exposing it to light. The term 'Rayograph' is named after one of the earliest and most prolific proponents of photograms, Man Ray. [55]
The commercial or at-scale development of film, using development machines or process equipment. [56]
A self-leveling cross-shaped camera mount suspended via several loops on a single line or string, used in kite aerial photography.
A basic camera, without converging or diverging optical elements, such that light entering a small hole in an opaque thin sheet will produce an inverted and reversed on a plane a distance beyond the pinhole. A larger pinhole (i.e., aperture) lets in more light, resulting in a brighter image, but also less sharp. A smaller pinhole will result in a darker but sharper image. Pinholes cannot be made arbitrarily small, as the light passing through the pinhole interferes with itself, diffracting due to the light interacting with the edges of the pinhole. [57]
A type of filter placed in front of the lens (or for some lenses, in a drop-in filter slot) in order to darken skies, manage reflections, or suppress glare from the surface of water. Because reflections and sky light tend to be partially linearly polarized, a polarizing filter can be used to change the balance of light in the photograph. A polarizing filter can also enhance the appearance of vegetation by reducing reflected light, and can make water appear more transparent by removing reflections of the sky.
a
A lens that is shorter from the front of the lens to the image plane than its own focal length. This is achieved with a telephoto group at the front of the lens consisting of a positive lens element followed by a negative lens element. A telephoto lens cannot be made as fast or as well-corrected for aberrations as an ordinary lens of the same focal length. [58]
[58]
Latin: tripodus lit. 'three-footed'; a three-legged stand to support a camera or other equipment. Tripods come in a wide range of materials and sizes, depending on height, supported weight, or stability requirements. [63] Small, inexpensive, or consumer-oriented tripods usually have a captive 1/4-20 UNC bolt to mount a camera directly. Heavier, professional-oriented tripods usually have a 3/8-16 UNC stud (or sometimes a 3/8-16 UNC threaded insert to screw in a compatible stud), to mount a tripod head such as a gimbal or ball head, which the camera can mount to.
A transmission-corrected f-number. Light is reflected, scattered, and absorbed by every interaction with lens elements and parts, resulting in less light transmitted through the lens than its f-number indicates. The T-stop T of a lens is given by the f-number N divided by the square root of the lens's transmittance:
[65]
[66]
A type of neutral-density filter attached to a lens that provides controllable amounts of light reduction through the lens. This is achieved by using two linear polarizing filters at different polarization axes to partially block light transmission. Variable neutral-density filters are mostly used in videography, instead of using a matte box with a variety of large dedicated neutral density filters.
A camera with a ground glass focusing screen that allows the photographer to see through the lens to adjust focus and composition. View cameras are mounted on tripods, and focus by moving the lens closer to or away from the focusing screen, with a bellows blocking light not entering the lens. View cameras are noted for having movements such as lens tilt or swing; front rise, fall, or lateral shift; rear tilt or swing; and rear rise, fall or lateral shift. [67]
An art form that began in the 1960s, created by putting objects on the glass, or platen of a photocopier and by pressing "start" to produce an image. Similar to scanography.
Primarily videography. A feature found on some consumer and most professional video cameras to aid in correct exposure. When the feature is enabled, areas of the image over a certain threshold are filled with a striped or cross-hatch pattern to dramatically highlight areas where too much light is falling on the image sensor.
A plate with concentric rings alternating between opaque and transparent, used to focus light by diffraction instead of the more common refractive optics used in most lenses. A zone plate is used in place of a pinhole for a soft-focus image. The transparent area of a zone plate is much larger than the area of a pinhole, thus the effective f-number of a zone plate is lower than for a corresponding pinhole, allowing for decreased exposure time.
A technique for determining optimal film exposure and development, formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer. Provides photographers with a systematic method of precisely defining the relationship between the way they visualize the subject and the final results. There are 10 zones, with black corresponding to Zone 1, and white corresponding to Zone 10. [69]
A type of lens for which the focal length (and thus the angle of view) can be varied, as opposed to a fixed focal length, or prime, lens. Developed in the 1930s by Dr. Frank Back, [64] zoom lenses are usually denoted by their focal length range, for example, 100–400 mm. Cameras such as point-and-shoot and bridge cameras, which do not have interchangeable lenses often describe their zoom lenses by the ratio of the longest to shortest focal lengths. The previous 100–400 mm example would be described as a 4:1 or "4×" zoom. A true zoom lens, also called a parfocal lens, maintains focus when its focal length changes. A lens that does not maintain focus as it zooms is called a varifocal lens. [70]
This is not a Wikipedia article: It is an individual user's work-in-progress page, and may be incomplete and/or unreliable. For guidance on developing this draft, see
Wikipedia:So you made a userspace draft. Find sources:
Google (
books ·
news ·
scholar ·
free images ·
WP refs) ·
FENS ·
JSTOR ·
TWL |
The following is a list of terms related to
photography.
More commonly known as 35 mm format or 35 mm film, it is the most popular film format. The term '135' was introduced by Kodak as a designation for the 35 mm photographic film, which is the film gauge of the format, 35 millimeters (1.4 in). The image frame is 36 mm wide by 24 mm high, with a diagonal measurement of 43.27 mm. Sometimes used interchangeably with full format (which is more specifically a sensor format in digital cameras).
A lens with a focal length mounted on a camera body with a film format or sensor size different than 35 mm format will frame the same subjects at the same distance from the camera (or said alternately, will have the same angle of view) as a 35 mm camera mounted with a lens using the 35 mm equivalent focal length. For example, a 50 mm lens mounted on a Micro Four Thirds camera, with a crop factor of 2 (compared to 35 mm format) will produce an image with a similar framing, from the same distance, as a 100 mm lens on a 35 mm camera.
A color digital sensor format that uses a dichroic prism to split the incoming light into three narrower spectra centered on red, green, and blue wavelengths. Each color-separated spectrum is imaged by a dedicated CCD sensor.
A property of a lens or other optical system that causes light to spread out into a blur spot, rather focus to a point. The two general types of aberration are monochromatic and chromatic aberrations. Monochromatic aberrations are due to the geometry of the lens, independent of the wavelength of light traveling through the system. The effect of chromatic aberrations is dependent upon the wavelength, or color, of the light in the lens. [1]
A means of depicting an image that does not have an immediate association with the object world. Abstract photographs are often created through non-traditional uses of photographic equipment, processes, or materials.
A color space developed by Adobe Systems in 1998. Covers approximately 50% of the colors in the CIELAB color space, with a wider gamut than sRGB.
Taking images from an airborne platform, such as airplane, helicopter, or drone. Kite aerial photography is a specific type of aerial photography.
A type of photography where a camera with attached lens is mounted over the eyepiece of another image-forming lens system, such as a telescope, spotting scope, or microscope, with the camera lens taking the place of the human eye.
A positive photograph on glass made by a variant of the wet plate collodion process. Viewed using reflected light. Often mistaken for daguerreotype images.
Non-digital photography. Usually refers to film photography, but also includes any photography that uses chemical processes to capture images on paper, glass, or plates.
Primarily used in cinematography, a form of optical lateral compression that is used to capture a wide view of a scene onto a film frame with a narrower aspect ratio. This allowed filming wide-screen movies onto 35&mm film or other formats that had narrower fields of view than typical movie screen formats. The optical lateral compression is achieved through the use of a cylindrical lens element. The lateral compression resulted in characteristic artifacts such as prominent horizontal lens flare and vertically-oblong blur spots.
The angular extent of a scene imaged by a camera. The angle of view is determined by the film or sensor dimensions, the focal length of the lens, and the projection type of the lens.
A lens that corrects for spherical and chromatic aberrations for three wavelengths of light, as opposed to the more common achromatic lens, which only corrects for two wavelengths.
The hole or opening through which light travels in a lens or optical system. The amount of light from a constant source traveling through a lens is proportional to the area of the aperture. But most calculations for characteristics such as exposure and depth of field are based on the 1-dimensional measure of the aperture (diameter). While most apertures are rotationally-symmetric about the lens's optical axis (i.e., circular, or regular polygonal shaped), some apertures exhibit only lateral symmetry (such as anamorphic lenses), or no symmetry.
Stands for Additive System of Photographic Exposure, designed as a means to simplify exposure computation. The system uses a base-2 logarithmic scale to convert multiplication and division in the camera exposure equation to addition and subtraction of exposure steps.
A photography sub-genre that emphasizes capturing buildings or other architectural structures in an aesthetically pleasing way. Often requires use of specialized techniques or tools, such as shift movements on view cameras or perspective control lenses, to capture large subjects at often short distances while reducing or controlling perspective distortion. Problems arising in architectural photography include: capturing the three-dimensional aspect of the subject; light of the subject; rendering of substance and texture; the concept of the architecture; and the environment in which the subject is located. [2] [3]
A lens element whose surface profiles are not sections of a sphere or cylinder. The more complex surface profile of the lens element is designed to reduce or eliminate spherical aberration and reduce other optical aberrations such as astigmatism, as compared to a simple spherical-profile lens. [4]
A type aberration where rays that propagate through the lens in two perpendicular planes converge on different foci.
Photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial event, and areas of the night sky. Often involves specialized techniques and equipment to compensate for difficulties and limitations such as atmospheric distortion, low light levels, and the rotation of the earth. Astrophotography usually describes a sub-discipline of amateur astronomy, using cameras and telescopes available to, or made, individuals rather than institutions. [5] [6]
An early color photography process patented in 1903 by Auguste and Louis Lumière. Autochrome was an additive color mosaic screen plate process.
A mode of modern cameras that automatically focused the camera's lens on a selected point or area.
The appearance of bright, typically circular unfocused spots in an image, due to camera flash or light directly behind the camera reflecting off of small aerosol particles in the air (such as small water droplets, dust, and smoke particles) back to the lens, between the camera and subject. [8] Backscatter 'orbs' are often the explanation for supposed photographic evidence of paranormal activity.
Simple cameras with reduced capabilities and controls, and correspondingly reduced complexity, meant for the beginner and inexpensive camera market. While many box cameras had simple two-position focusing (near vs. far), most had non-interchangeable lenses with focus fixed at its hyperfocal distance to maximize the range of apparent sharpness for most subjects. Most box cameras also had limited aperture and exposure control, although some could should in bulb mode when used with a flash. [11] Similar to modern disposable cameras, the first Kodak box camera came with a roll of film pre-installed; when all of the film frames have been exposed, the camera was sent to Kodak for the film to be processed. Unlike disposable cameras, the Kodak box camera was reloaded with film, and returned to the customer for use.
A type of oil print process with a medium sensitive enough to light to be used with an enlarger, unlike previous oil print processes. The process produces prints in oil pigments on a bromide or chlorobromide base.
The variation in the contrast of images produced during the production of film images based on the manner of illumination. When light is projected through a film plane through a condenser lens, the light is highly directional, resulting in points in the photographic film receiving light from only one direction. If instead the light projected through a film plane first goes through a diffuser, the diffuse light results in points on the photographic film receiving light from wider (diffused) area. The effect is named after André Callier, who investigated and measured the effect in 1909. [12]
The Callier factor, or Callier quotient, Q, describes the ratio of attenuances between directed (Ddir) and diffused (Ddiff) bright-fields: Q = Ddir / Ddiff. Because diffusion necessarily attenuates light, Q will always be greater than 1.
An early photographic process invented in 1835 by William Henry Fox Talbot. A negative is produced on paper coated with silver iodide. The process allowed for a high number of prints to be made from a single negative, eventually overtaking the Daguerrotype due to the ability to copy the negative so many times, even though the prints were usually of lower quality due to the surface variations and difficulty maintaining the flatness of paper. [13]
lit. 'dark chamber', an optical device that captures an external scene inside a dark, light-tight box. The principle of imaging inside a dark chamber dates at least as early as Aristotle. [14]
A device to capture images on photographic film or imaging sensor.
The diameter of the area of highest precision or resolution in image space (i.e., on the film or camera sensor) due to refractive properties of light through the optical system. The light rays emanating or reflecting from a point on the focused object can converge to an area of confusion of a certain size. It is the goal of precision optics, and good photographic techniques, to minimize size of the circle of confusion. [15] The circle of confusion is not directly tied to or a result of lens quality, but is most important in determining depth of focus capability, and therefore depth of field. [16]
A negative process that required a photographic plate (i.e., glass) had to be coated, sensitized, and exposed while still wet. Thus this process was also known as the wet-plate process. Invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851, it was widely used, such as by American Civil War photographer Matthew Brady. Ambrotype was a sub-type wet collodion plate process. [17]
A property of radiative light, whereby the color of related light is related to the temperature of the black-body radiator. Lower-temperatures correspond to red and orange color of the light. Higher color temperatures correspond to blueish or whitish color of light. The color temperature should not be confused with the perceptual sense of the light: so-called "warm tones" (reds and oranges) are colder color temperatures than "cool tones" or hues, which are relatively high color temperatures. [18]
[23]
[16]
Usually denoted N, defined at the ratio of the focal length of the lens, f, to the diameter of the aperture or entrance pupil: N = f/D. Thus a larger f-number N corresponds to a smaller relative aperture, whereas a smaller f-number corresponds to a larger relative aperture. Lenses with a larger maximum aperture (and thus a small f-number N, say, f/2) are called fast lenses; conversely lenses with a smaller maximum aperture, say N = 6.3 (f/6.3), are called slow lenses. [25]
A measure of how strongly a lens converges or diverges light; it is the inverse of the lens's optical power. Usually denoted with a hooked or script f, focal length is loosely (and imprecisely) defined as the distance from the lens to the film or imaging sensor when the lens is focused at infinity. Conceptually, this is found from solving the thin lens equation for f when the object distance is set to infinity (∞). [26]
Denoted by the Greek letter γ, gamma is a nonlinear relation describing degree of contrast to which an image is developed or produced. It can be considered to be an optical compression (and corresponding decompression, or expansion) factor in the encoding and decoding of an image. [28]
A type of photography that draws from portraiture, fashion, pin-up, and figure photography, historically primarily capturing women. It usually accentuates and emphasizes the sexual or gender forms of the subject. [29]
The science and practice of capturing fast-moving subjects such as explosions, projectiles and ballistics, [31] especially so as to appear to freeze the motion of the subject, or of taking images at a high sampling or frame rate. High-speed photography requires sensitive imaging media, fast shuttering mechanisms and timing, and fast and/or powerful lighting sources. [32]
Usually denoted H, the focus distance that maximizes the depth of field, from half the hyperfocal distance to infinity, for a given aperture number N, acceptable circle of confusion c, and focal length f, so that . [33] [34]
A device used to measure the amount of light falling on a subject from the scene. The incident light meter takes its reading from the position of the subject, next to or in front of. Incident light measurement helps the photographer correctly expose a scene because it does not measure or is fooled by the reflectances of objects, or the subject itself, in the scene. [35]
Photography with films or sensors whose spectral sensitivities extend into the near-infrared spectrum, from around 700 nm to 900 nm for common subjects (including portraits, landscape, and architecture), up to 1300 nm for scientific imaging. There is no fundamental difference between typical visible-spectrum color or black-and-white photography and infrared photography, and as such is easily accessible to photographers wanting to expand their creative tools and techniques. In the digital era, a camera with the infrared hot mirror removed is necessary in order to capture the infrared spectrum. Additionally, a so-called infrared filter is used to block some or all of the visible light spectrum. [36]
The most recent version of the Kodak Kodachrome transparency film before its discontinuation.
An early form of printing whereby the image is formed from metallic silver, but the actual sensitive medium is iron salt. [37]
A collection of techniques used to capture the phenomenon of electrical coronal discharge.
A form of photography that draws from the traditions of landscape art, developed from the landscape as a backdrop to frame and contextualize the subject, into a style that emphasized the landscape itself as the subject of the art. [39]
A camera (typically view camera) using 4×5 film size or larger, including 5×7 (5 in × 7 in [13 cm × 18 cm]), 8×10 (8 in × 10 in [20 cm × 25 cm]), and other. [40]
[41]
A synonym for describing a lens's aperture. A fast lens has a comparatively wide maximum aperture, corresponding to a lower f-number, therefore allowing more light through it, enabling a faster shutter speed to achieve the same exposure value. Conversely, a slow lens has a comparatively narrower maximum aperture and larger f-number, thus requiring a slower shutter speed to achieve the same exposure value. [43] [44]
A camera using a film or sensor size larger than 35 mm format (24 mm × 36 mm [0.94 in × 1.42 in]) and smaller than 4×5 format (10 cm × 13 cm [4 in × 5 in]) or larger view cameras. [45]
A broadly-defined field of photography that overlaps or encompasses genres such as bird photography, flower photography, insect photography, wildlife photography, mountain photography, underwater photography, and techniques such as portraiture and macrophotography. Nature photography is often distinguished from other forms, such as fashion photography, as an appreciation of how things are, rather than posing and staging the subject for a more appealing aesthetic. [46]
The techniques and art of photographing outdoors between dusk and dawn. Night scenes are typically characterized by the lack of general lighting, and the high contrast between subjects and background that may not be as apparent during daylight. Often surfaces such as bright walls, wet surfaces and puddles, and other reflective areas are used as fill light to provide the otherwise lacking light in a scene. [47]
The creation and art of photographing the nude human form or any part that would be considered nude or semi-nude. Photographing the nude body may be for artistic and creative purposes, or for commercial purposes. The display, presentation, and distribution of nude photographs can be controversial, and can overlap with pornography and the laws governing it. [48]
A scene with a wide field of view, typically accomplished with a (usually cropped wide angle lens, special-purpose panoramic camera, or by stitching together several shots that cover the scene. When stitching individual shots together, best results are achieved when the camera is rotated about its no-parallax point, in order to minimize parallax / perspective shift. [49]
A photographic process where a negative image is created on a paper, to create the final print of a photograph, rather than from film base. Paper negative process is relatively simple and accessible process for amateur photographers. [50]
A photograph created without a camera, by placing objects directly onto photosensitive paper and exposing it to light. The term 'Rayograph' is named after one of the earliest and most prolific proponents of photograms, Man Ray. [55]
The commercial or at-scale development of film, using development machines or process equipment. [56]
A self-leveling cross-shaped camera mount suspended via several loops on a single line or string, used in kite aerial photography.
A basic camera, without converging or diverging optical elements, such that light entering a small hole in an opaque thin sheet will produce an inverted and reversed on a plane a distance beyond the pinhole. A larger pinhole (i.e., aperture) lets in more light, resulting in a brighter image, but also less sharp. A smaller pinhole will result in a darker but sharper image. Pinholes cannot be made arbitrarily small, as the light passing through the pinhole interferes with itself, diffracting due to the light interacting with the edges of the pinhole. [57]
A type of filter placed in front of the lens (or for some lenses, in a drop-in filter slot) in order to darken skies, manage reflections, or suppress glare from the surface of water. Because reflections and sky light tend to be partially linearly polarized, a polarizing filter can be used to change the balance of light in the photograph. A polarizing filter can also enhance the appearance of vegetation by reducing reflected light, and can make water appear more transparent by removing reflections of the sky.
a
A lens that is shorter from the front of the lens to the image plane than its own focal length. This is achieved with a telephoto group at the front of the lens consisting of a positive lens element followed by a negative lens element. A telephoto lens cannot be made as fast or as well-corrected for aberrations as an ordinary lens of the same focal length. [58]
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Latin: tripodus lit. 'three-footed'; a three-legged stand to support a camera or other equipment. Tripods come in a wide range of materials and sizes, depending on height, supported weight, or stability requirements. [63] Small, inexpensive, or consumer-oriented tripods usually have a captive 1/4-20 UNC bolt to mount a camera directly. Heavier, professional-oriented tripods usually have a 3/8-16 UNC stud (or sometimes a 3/8-16 UNC threaded insert to screw in a compatible stud), to mount a tripod head such as a gimbal or ball head, which the camera can mount to.
A transmission-corrected f-number. Light is reflected, scattered, and absorbed by every interaction with lens elements and parts, resulting in less light transmitted through the lens than its f-number indicates. The T-stop T of a lens is given by the f-number N divided by the square root of the lens's transmittance:
[65]
[66]
A type of neutral-density filter attached to a lens that provides controllable amounts of light reduction through the lens. This is achieved by using two linear polarizing filters at different polarization axes to partially block light transmission. Variable neutral-density filters are mostly used in videography, instead of using a matte box with a variety of large dedicated neutral density filters.
A camera with a ground glass focusing screen that allows the photographer to see through the lens to adjust focus and composition. View cameras are mounted on tripods, and focus by moving the lens closer to or away from the focusing screen, with a bellows blocking light not entering the lens. View cameras are noted for having movements such as lens tilt or swing; front rise, fall, or lateral shift; rear tilt or swing; and rear rise, fall or lateral shift. [67]
An art form that began in the 1960s, created by putting objects on the glass, or platen of a photocopier and by pressing "start" to produce an image. Similar to scanography.
Primarily videography. A feature found on some consumer and most professional video cameras to aid in correct exposure. When the feature is enabled, areas of the image over a certain threshold are filled with a striped or cross-hatch pattern to dramatically highlight areas where too much light is falling on the image sensor.
A plate with concentric rings alternating between opaque and transparent, used to focus light by diffraction instead of the more common refractive optics used in most lenses. A zone plate is used in place of a pinhole for a soft-focus image. The transparent area of a zone plate is much larger than the area of a pinhole, thus the effective f-number of a zone plate is lower than for a corresponding pinhole, allowing for decreased exposure time.
A technique for determining optimal film exposure and development, formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer. Provides photographers with a systematic method of precisely defining the relationship between the way they visualize the subject and the final results. There are 10 zones, with black corresponding to Zone 1, and white corresponding to Zone 10. [69]
A type of lens for which the focal length (and thus the angle of view) can be varied, as opposed to a fixed focal length, or prime, lens. Developed in the 1930s by Dr. Frank Back, [64] zoom lenses are usually denoted by their focal length range, for example, 100–400 mm. Cameras such as point-and-shoot and bridge cameras, which do not have interchangeable lenses often describe their zoom lenses by the ratio of the longest to shortest focal lengths. The previous 100–400 mm example would be described as a 4:1 or "4×" zoom. A true zoom lens, also called a parfocal lens, maintains focus when its focal length changes. A lens that does not maintain focus as it zooms is called a varifocal lens. [70]