CMA Glossary of Photographic Terms

CMA Glossary of Photographic Terms

Language: English

No. of terms: 77

Description: This small collection of terms related to photography is found on the website of The Cleveland Museum of Art, being additional information for their outstanding past exhibition “Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art”, the first major exhibition to focus on the museum’s distinguished photography collection. So what makes this small glossary special is its focus on historical terms. And when checking out the glossary, why not having a look to the interesting and enlightening documentation of this exhibition.

Please note, the navigation of this glossary is a bit odd. With the given URL you will reach a term list, where the terms are NOT clickable. Please click the letter introducing each group. This link will bring you the actual definitions.

Example Term: Calotype
Photography’s first successful negative/positive process, allowing many positive prints to be produced from a single negative. First, high-quality writing paper, made light-sensitive with potassium iodide and silver nitrate solutions, was exposed through an aperture in a camera to light reflected off the desired subject. The latent image became visible when it was developed in gallic acid and silver nitrate. It was then fixed with hyposulfite of soda and rinsed. The resulting paper negative, or calotype, was placed in a hinged, wooden frame and contact-printed in daylight on another piece of light-sensitive paper. When the print had developed out to the desired tonality, the process was chemically stopped and fixed.

The calotype process was patented in 1841 by British photographer William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877). The term comes from the Greek kalos (beautiful). Usually reddish-brown or purplish in color, photographs from calotype negatives are characterized by broad effects of light and shadow because the texture of the paper prevents sharp details. Waxing the paper negative, a further refinement, yielded results much closer to the wet collodion process. The average exposure time was a few minutes or longer, varying according to the lighting conditions and size of the picture, which could range from tiny to mammoth proportions.

More Photography Dictionaries & Glossaries on DictionaryNet

Keywords: photography, photographic dictionary, photographic glossary, photo, dictionary, glossary, vocabulary, terminology, digital photography, photographic terms, CMA, Cleveland Museum of Art

Quote as: Glossary of Photographic Terms. Copyright © The Cleveland Museum of Art 2006

PhotoNotes.org Dictionary of Photography

PhotoNotes.org Dictionary of Film and Digital Photography

Language: English

No. of terms: 1487


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Description: The PhotoNotes.org dictionary is the most accurate, useful and comprehensive reference source offering contemporary photographic terms I found on the Net so far. On several occasions the descriptions go beyond mere definitions: they include the theoretical background of the term or summarize historical concepts in photography. Where suitable they give practical examples as a way of explanation. The author NK Guy took care that digital and film photography found equal coverage in his work.
To make it short: A great dictionary for everyone interested in photography from the beginner to the experienced professional.

Example Term: Parallax focussing
Also “reticle focussing.” This is a focussing technique which relies on a ground glass which has a reticle – a small mark, such as crosshairs, etched or engraved onto its surface.
This mark is used as a focussing aid, particularly for macro work. The photographer looks at the mark and moves his or her eye. If the reticle appears stationary then the subject is deemed to be in focus. The technique exploits parallax differences, and really needs a magnifier attachment to be effective.
cf. parallax, reticle.

More Photography Dictionaries & Glossaries on DictionaryNet

Keywords: photography, photographic dictionary, photographic glossary, photo, dictionary, glossary, vocabulary, terminology, digital photography

Quote as: PhotoNotes – Dictionary of Photography. Copyright (c) 2000-2008 NK Guy, PhotoNotes.org