Photography and the law

Free expression versus the right to privacy

A photographer is a citizen with a camera who, like everyone else, has to abide by the law. In most countries, the law attempts to balance the right to free expression and a free press with the individual’s right to privacy.

In essence, if a subject is on their private property, such as in their house or their garden, a photographer cannot take a picture without permission. Photographers are also not allowed to take pictures in certain zones at airports or in court.

Photographers in court

Laws about photographing members of the public in the street and photographing people who are in the news differ from country to country and are open to very broad interpretation. In Britain, for example, creating a blanket law regarding intrusion and privacy has proved impossible. This has led to hours of courtroom argument, the main winners being legal teams from the huge fees they charge. As soon as a judgment in one case appears to set an important precedent, it is challenged or overruled by another court. The situation is further complicated by the different areas of the law that can affect images and publishing – areas including libel, privacy and human rights.

In Europe there are conflicts between the laws of individual states and European Union law. In America the principle of freedom of artistic expression as a constitutional right is itself complicated because laws vary from one state to another.

Celebrities regularly rush to the courts attempting to stop the presses rolling on a story showing them in a bad light. Companies are also now quick to take photographers to court over how their products are used in shots. Members of the public have tried to claim royalties from photographers after they have by chance appeared in photographs that have become well known.

Such developments could lead to the absurd situation in which it would no longer be possible to publish or exhibit any photograph, or to comment on any person or product. Photographers should have the right to photograph in public places and to express challenging and creative ideas without ending up in court as a matter of course. On the other hand, the introduction of legislation in Britain to restrict the covert use of camera phones, for example, has been widely welcomed by the press and public alike.

The language of photography

A

Airbrush – mechanical sprayer invented in the 1890s that uses compressed air to spray paint or ink. A pre-digital photographic retouching tool.

Albumen prints/albumen printing – albumen printing paper is made by coating thin paper with an egg-white and salt solution which is then sensitized with silver nitrate. Albumen printing in conjunction with wet-collodion negatives became the standard method of creating photographs around 1850. Julia Margaret Cameron used it in the 1860s. It remained the most popular process until about 1900. It is still used today by some photographers. The albumen adds to the brightness of the paper and the highlights of the print. Albumen prints can be toned with gold chloride to give a purplishbrown colour.

Ambient light – the light that already exists where a photograph is to be taken, as opposed to the light introduced by the photographer. Sometimes referred to as ‘available’ or ‘natural’ light.

Ambrotype – a direct positive image on glass.

Anaglyph – a picture giving the illusion of a three-dimensional view when looked at through red and green or red and blue ‘3D’ glasses. It is created using two cameras with lenses set apart about the same distance as our eyes. Twin views of a scene are shot which are printed in different colours – usually red and green or red and blue – and then superimposed on each other. Horror films of the 1950s used the effect creatively and with great humour – as in House of Wax and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Some photographers specialize in creating anaglyphs. See Stereoscopic photograph.

Aperture – the size of the lens opening through which light passes, indicated by the f number.

Archival – a process designed to protect a print or negative from deterioration caused by a chemical reaction or light.

Artificial light – light from an electric bulb or flash.

Autochrome – the brand name of the first colour photographic process, launched commercially in 1907 by the Lumière brothers. Used by Jacques-Henri Lartigue.

Autofocus – a system by which a camera adjusts its lens to focus on a given area, for example, when the subject is in the middle of the picture.

B

Back light/back lighting – the light that comes from behind the subject and towards the camera.

Back projection – a system used to create location backgrounds in a studio. A scene is photographed and projected onto a screen with objects or people placed in front.

Barn doors – hinged black metal flaps slotted in front of lights to control the direction and width of the beam.

Batch – a set of identifying numbers printed on packets of light-sensitive materials. As slight variations in sensitivity can occur during the manufacture of films and photographic paper, photographers can ensure consistent results by using materials from the same batch.

Blonde – a type of tungsten light used in photography studios, sometimes known as ‘Marilyn’, a famous blonde.

Blueprint – see Cyanotype.

Bounced light – the light that does not fall directly on a subject from its source but that has been reflected from another surface such as a reflector, wall or ceiling.

Bracket/bracketing – the process of making several exposures, some at more and some at less than the meter reading. Used to ensure you have a successful picture.

Burning in – darkening a chosen area by additional exposure.

C

C41 processing – the chemicals used to process colour negative film.

Cabinet print – a format for printing photographic portraits dating from the 1860s and still in use today. School photographers offer ‘cabinet’-size images as an option when ordering prints – 31⁄2 x 41⁄2 inches. The novelty of photographic calling cards (see Cartes-de-visite) began to wane in about 1860 and slightly larger cabinet photographs became popular. These were designed to be put on display on the cabinet in your front room. They were usually mounted on card, with the photographer’s name and studio elaborately embossed on the back.

Cable release – a flexible cable used for firing the shutter. Often used for making long exposures with the camera on a tripod, when any movement might ruin the pictures.

Calotype – also called the ‘Talbotype’ after its inventor William Henry Fox Talbot; patented in 1841. Negatives were contact-printed to produce a positive, using sunlight as the light source. This use of a negative/ positive process became the standard for pre-digital photography.

Camera lucida – an optical drawing device used by artists, a prism mounted on a stick attached to a drawing board. By adjusting the prism, the artist can see the scene projected onto the drawing board, where it can then be traced.

Camera shake – the movement of the camera during exposure that causes distortion or lack of focus. Can be used creatively or eliminated by using a tripod.

Card reader – device connected to a computer or printer that can read the information from a digital camera’s memory card.

Cartes-de-visite – Popular portraits patented in France in 1854 by André Disdéri. He had the ingenious idea of printing photos of his customers at the size of the then-traditional visiting card – about 21⁄2 x 4 inches – with the sitter’s name and address printed on the back. This led to people presenting pictures of themselves as gifts and to a ‘cardomania’ craze for collecting photos of prominent people, including Queen Victoria and Napoleon III. A sequence of four, eight or twelve portraits was taken on a single negative using specially designed cameras. The pictures were then contact-printed before being cut to size.

CCD – the sensor of light, colour and intensity in digital cameras, scanners, television and video cameras. CCD stands for Charged Coupled Device.

Cibachrome – a print made from a colour slide. The Cibachrome process was created by AGFA.

Cliché-verre – means ‘glass plate’. Marks are scratched into a thin coating of black paint applied to a sheet of glass. The sheet is then used as a photographic negative and contact-printed onto photographic paper. Light passing through the scratched areas creates an image on the paper.

Clipping your film – a means of ensuring correct exposure when processing a slide or negative film. One or more frames are ‘clipped’ from an exposed roll of film with scissors, in total darkness. This ‘clip’ is then processed and viewed by the photographer. The balance of the film can then be processed at the same time, or a prolonged or shorter time according to the result of the clip.

Collodion process – see Wet-collodion/wet-plate process.

Colour cast – a trace of one colour in all the colours of a photograph.

Colour correction – the process of correcting or enhancing the colour of an image.

Colour filters – thin sheets of coloured glass or plastic placed over the lens to absorb or allow through particular colours of light into the camera.

Colour negative film – film that provides a colour image in negative form after processing.

Colour reversal film – film that provides a colour image in positive after processing, also known as colour slide film.

Colour slide – a positive photographic image in colour. It can be viewed on a light box, projected using a slide projector or scanned for reproduction in magazines, books, etc. The standard medium of professional photography from the 1970s until digital photography.

Colour temperature – a term that describes the colour composition of a light source. Calibrated in Kelvins or K.

Colour transparency – a positive photographic image in colour, also known as colour slide.

Compression – a process of reducing the size of a digital image to aid easy transmission or storage.

Contact sheet/contact print – the initial form in which a photographer sees a film negative in positive form. It is made by placing a negative in contact with sensitized material before passing light through to create a print of the same size as the negative. Contact prints were the only method of printing before the invention of the enlarger.

Contrast – the difference between light and dark tones in an image.

Contrasty – an image with a great difference between the tones of light and dark; the opposite of ‘flat’.

Correction filter – thin transparent coloured acetate placed over the lens or light source in order to match the colour balance of the light entering the camera to that of the film that is being used.

Cove – a curved studio background which gives the impression of infinity behind the subject being photographed. It can also be lit with colour or shapes.

Crop – to alter the edges of a photograph by changing the position of the camera, adjusting the enlarger or easel during printing or by trimming a final print.

Cross-processing – a term used to describe processing a colour slide film through the chemicals normally used for processing colour negatives. The slide film becomes a dense, high-contrast colour negative which can produce striking saturated colour images when printed. Also used to describe processing a colour negative film through the chemicals normally used for colour slides.

C type print/C print/Type C print – colour prints from colour negatives, also known as a dye coupler print.

Curator – person who coordinates exhibitions in galleries and selects photographers and artists to exhibit.

Cut out – a subject is photographed against a white or neutral coloured backdrop so that it appears to have been ‘cut out’ from its background.

Cyanotype – a process invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842 that creates prints with a wonderful blue background. A permanent print is made in sunlight by laying objects or placing a negative against paper that has been sensitized by being soaked in a solution of potassium of ammonio-citrate of iron and potassium ferricyanide before being left to dry in the dark. After exposure, when washed the paper is a beautiful cyan, or blue, colour. The cyanotype is the source of the blueprint or dyeline process today, used creatively by photographers and by engineers and architects.

D

Daguerreotype – the first commercial photographic process, which produced small, highly detailed, unique and unreproducible images on a silver surface – the mirror image of the original view.

Darkroom – a light-tight room used for processing and printing, incorporating safelights for the materials used. A magical place where amazing things suddenly appear on white sheets of paper.

Darkslide – a light-tight film holder for large-format sheet film.

Daylight film – film designed to produce accurate natural colour rendition when a scene is lit by light of a colour temperature of 5500K, such as midday sunlight or flash.

Dedicated flash – a flash gun designed to give correct exposure automatically when used with a compatible camera.

Depth of field – the zone of sharp focus in a picture. The area in front of or behind the point of focus in a photographic image at which other details remain in acceptable focus.

Developer – a chemical that changes an invisible latent image into a visible one.

Diffuse – to scatter or soften a light source so that it is not all coming from the same direction. It occurs naturally when sunlight is scattered on a cloudy day.

Digital imaging – the combination of digital photographs and the computer.

Digitize – to take or convert an image into a form that can be processed, stored and electronically reconstructed.

DIN – a system used to describe the sensitivity of a photographic film to light.

Direct positive image – a photograph without a negative.

Dodging – lightening an area of a print by shading it during exposure.

Dupe – a photographic copy of an original slide or negative. Short for duplicate.

DX – a film-speed recognition system used on some cameras that take 35mm film. It allows the camera to read a film’s ISO automatically.

Dye coupler print – a print from a colour negative, also known as a C type print.

Dye-transfer print – a method of colour printing offering great longevity. It allows museums to acquire prints without the worry of instability or impermanence and is made by rephotographing an original photograph three times under different filtrations of red, green and blue. These negatives are then used to make gelatin surfaces that absorb dyes of the associated colours. Combined, they recreate the original image. The process offers the photographer great control of the colour, which can be sumptuous. It was used by Harold Edgerton.

E

E6 processing – the chemicals used to process colour slide film.

Edge reversal – see Solarization.

Ektacolour print – a C type print made on Ektacolour paper. Used by Philip-Lorca DiCorcia.

Emulsion – the light-sensitive coating on film and photographic paper.

Enlargement – a term for a photographic print from a negative that is bigger than the original. It is made by projecting a magnified image of the negative onto photo paper or sensitized material. For every degree of enlargement some quality is lost.

Enlarger – a machine designed to project a negative onto sensitized paper. Once known as a projection printer.

Exposure – the amount of light a photographer allows to fall onto photo-sensitive material.

Extension tubes/extension rings – metal tubes that fit between the camera body and the lens which allow subjects to be photographed close-up or larger than lifesize.

F

Fast film – film stock that has a high sensitivity to light and can therefore be used in low-light situations.

Fibre-based paper – black-and-white photographic printing paper for dish development.

Fill-in – light source that lightens shadows, so reducing contrast.

Film – transparent plastic material coated in light-sensitive emulsion.

Film cassette – a light-tight metal or plastic container holding 35mm film loaded straight into the camera.

Film speed – the relative sensitivity of a film to light. Film stock that has a great sensitivity to light is said to be ‘fast’, while film that is not very sensitive to light is described as being ‘slow’.

Fish-eye lens – an extreme wide-angle lens. Used by David McCabe.

Fish fryer – photographer’s slang for a medium-size studio light.

Fix/fixing – the process of making a photographic image permanent and no longer sensitive to light.

Flare – light that scatters or reflects inside a camera. Mainly caused by a light shining directly into a lens. Flare can be used creatively.

Flash – an artificial light source giving a brief, very bright burst of light.

Flash head – a unit that holds a flash tube emitting a bright burst of light when triggered.

Flash meter – a meter that measures the intensity of light from a flash, allowing the photographer to set the correct f stop.

Flash pack – a large electronic unit that, when connected to a flash head, allows repeated bursts of controlled bright light.

Flat – this describes a scene or image with little difference in brightness between the light and dark areas; the opposite of ‘contrasty’. Also, the term for a board used to block unwanted light or a reflector – a piece of cardboard or shiny material – used to bounce or reflect light onto a subject.

Focal length – a system used to indicate the degree to which a lens magnifies or widens a view. This is marked on the lens barrel or rim.

Format – the size of a negative, paper or camera-viewing area.

Formatting – the process of preparing a reusable memory card to record photographs by deleting all previous images.

Fresnel screen – a viewing screen used to intensify light when looking through a viewfinder. Particularly useful when the subject is backlit.

Front projection – a technique from movie-making in which a subject in a studio and an image of a location are combined together simultaneously in one photograph. An image is projected onto a screen in front of which the subject is positioned. The subject is lit separately, carefully avoiding spilling this light onto the background. The photo has to be taken from the same axis as the projection to avoid overlap, producing very theatrical images.

f stop/f number – a number expressing the aperture of a lens. The higher the number, the smaller the aperture.

Full bleed – borderless pages in books and magazines filled entirely with a photograph or other image.

G

Gelatin silver print – the standard contemporary method of printing black-and-white photographs from a negative in a darkroom.

Gigabyte – a thousand megabytes. See Megabytes.

Glossy print – a photographic print with a shiny surface. The smoothness of gloss paper gives very fine detail to prints.

Grade/graded paper – a classification of photographic paper by contrast from 0 to 5, 0 having the least contrast, 5 the greatest.

Grain – the tiny specks or clumps visible on film after development that together create a photographic image. When they are enlarged, our eyes merge them into continuous tones to form a believable image. The size of the grain of a film negative or slide controls the clarity of the detail when a print is made. Grain size varies from ‘fine’ to ‘coarse’ depending on the film stock used, exposure and processing. Coarse grain is used by Alison Jackson and José Luís Neto.

Gum-bichromate – a thick, viscous, light-sensitive material that can be applied to many surfaces, including paper, fabric, wood and metal. It has to be handmade as it is no longer commercially manufactured. Watercolour paint can be added to the mixture to colour the image. Used by Edward Steichen, Pictorialist and member of the Photo Secessionist group. See Pioneering artists with cameras, p. 136.

H

Health and safety – the term used to describe the common sense that must be used when working with photographic equipment and processes. Photographers need to be vigilant while working and to observe manufacturers’ advice, particularly when working with equipment that uses mains electricity and with processes that can be harmful if incorrectly used.

Heliographs – ‘sun drawings’, the name given to the first photographs by their creator, Nicéphore Niépce.

High contrast – pictures that use the opposite extreme ends of the grey scale: just the blacks and whites. This is achieved in lighting, processing, printing or manipulation. Used by Daido Moriyama.

High-key photographs – pictures that use only the upper portions of the grey scale: the predominantly light tones. Achieved in lighting, processing, printing or manipulation.

Highlights – the lightest tones of a photograph.

Hot shoe – the bracket on top of a camera for connecting a flash. It provides an electrical connection for triggering the flash when the shutter is pressed.

I

Incident light – the light falling onto a surface.

Infrared film – stock that is sensitive to both visible light and infrared radiation waves that are invisible to our eyes. Black-and-white infrared film makes skin tones appear very luminous and eyes very dark, and creates landscape pictures that appear ghostly. Black-and-white infrared film was used by Minor White and Weegee.

Inkjet printer – prints a digitized image with millions of near-invisible coloured dots of ink or dye.

IR or R – the indicator on a lens that gives the focus change needed to take infrared pictures. It is necessary because the visible waves by which we focus are refracted differently from infrared waves.

Iris print – a computer-printed colour image.

ISO – A system used to describe the sensitivity of a photographic film to light. ISO stands for International Standards Organization.

J

Joiners – artist David Hockney’s term for his photographic collages.

Joule – a unit used to quantify the output of an electronic flash.

JPEG – an abbreviation of Joint Photographic Experts Group, pronounced ‘jay peg’. The format used for sending and storing digital images.

K

Kelvins or K – units of measurement of colour temperature, used to express the relative quality of light sources: for example, daylight is 5500K and tungsten light is 3200K.

Knuckle – a clamp allowing universal positioning, used to hold lighting equipment.

Kodachrome – fine-grain, highcolour-saturation colour slide/ transparency film produced by Kodak.

L

Lamda print – a digital image exposed on photographic paper using lasers to create prints of very high resolution.

Large format – cameras that use 5x4-inch and 10x8-inch film.

Latent image – an image that is present on a light-sensitive surface but not yet visible to the eye (i.e. needing to be developed).

Latitude – the degree by which exposure can be varied and still produce acceptable results.

LCD – the small screen on the back of digital cameras. Used for reviewing pictures taken either one at a time or several at once. LCD stands for liquid crystal display.

Lens – the glass element that bends light.

Lens hood – a round or square tube that prevents unwanted light from falling on the camera lens.

Lenticular photography – the process that creates ‘3D’ prints that can be viewed without the need for 3D glasses.

Light box – a means of viewing slides. Light boxes are illuminated with ‘daylight’-balanced tubes.

Lighting gels – sheets of thin, transparent, coloured acetate that are used to change the colour of light.

Light meter – the equipment that measures light intensity.

Linen tester – an alternative name for a magnifier used to view slides and negatives; also known as a lupe.

Liquid photographic emulsion/ liquid light – photographic emulsion that can be applied to many materials, including glass, metal, wood, canvas, cloth, plaster and three-dimensional objects such as stones and tiles.

Lith printing – a printing process used in the black-and-white darkroom that creates dramatic prints with strong tones and contrasts.

Lomo camera – an inexpensive camera favoured by photographers who like its simple controls and accurate long exposures in low light.

L shapes – tools for cropping pictures on a light box, used in pairs; shaped like a very large letter ‘L’.

Lupe – magnifier used to view slides and negatives; also known as a linen tester.

M

Macro lens – this allows subjects to be photographed larger than lifesize. Also known as a close-up lens. Some zoom lenses come with a macro feature.

Magic eye – an electronic device that triggers a flash unit when it senses a burst of light from another flash. Also known as a slave.

Magic lantern – the forerunner of the slide projector and cine projector. A hundred years ago magic lanterns powered by hydrogen cylinders could cast images as powerfully as modern cinema projectors.

Manual camera – a non-automatic camera with which the photographer controls the focus, aperture and shutter speed.

Mask – a material used to block out part of an image.

Matt paper – non-reflective photographic printing paper.

Medium format – a term describing cameras that use 21⁄4-inch-wide film: for example Hasselblads, Bronicas and Mamiyas.

Megabytes – units of digital information used to describe the size of a digital image and the space available on a digital camera’s memory card.

Megapixels – a million pixels. Units of megapixels are used to indicate the relative quality and fineness of detail given by a digital camera.

Memory card/memory stick – the means of recording and transferring digital pictures.

Mixed light – a combination of light sources, such as flash and daylight.

Modelling light – a small tungsten light built into a flash unit, used to position the direction of the flash.

Mono pod – a single-legged camera stand.

Motordrive – an automatic film windon system used in some cameras.

Multigrade printing – a system of filters and photographic paper in common use in black-and-white printing. A replacement for the system using graded papers to print black-and-white negatives.

N

Negative – the image produced on photographic emulsion by exposure followed by development in which tones are reversed.

O

Opaline pictures – photographs that are printed permanently onto glass.

Over-exposure – too much exposure of film or photographic paper, which destroys the quality of the image.

P

Panning – following the movement of a moving object with a camera.

Panoramic camera – a camera providing an ultra-wide view.

Perspective-control lens – a lens that can be moved up, down and sideways to prevent or correct perspective distortion.

Photogram – a photographic print made without a camera, created in the dark by placing flat, 3D or opaque objects directly onto a sheet of photographic paper or other sensitized surface before making an exposure using an enlarger or a household light bulb.

Photograph – an image formed by the action of light on a light-sensitive surface.

Photogravure – a printing process used to reproduce photos. Used by the Pictorialists. See Pioneering artists with cameras, p. 136.

Photomontage – an image composed of several different photographs. The term used in newspapers to tell readers that an image has been manipulated or is the combination of two images.

Photoshop – a computer program adopted by photographers as the standard tool to manipulate, alter and retouch photographs.

Physiogram – an image formed by a moving light source usually attached to a swinging pendulum.

Pixel – an abbreviation of pixel element. The tiny blocks of colour that together create a digital image.

Plate camera – an alternative name for a large-format camera.

Platinum print – a print from a negative that offers a subtlety of tone beyond that of a ‘silver’ print. Platinum printing died out during World War I when there was a scarcity of platinum owing to demand for its use in munitions. There has since been a revival of platinum printing owing to the unique quality and great longevity of the resulting images. See Pioneering Artists with Cameras, p. 136.

Polarizing filter – a filter that reduces or eliminates reflections from water and glass according to its position. It can also be used to darken skies.

Polaroid – a film and camera system that produces unique positive photographs in about a minute.

Polaroid film back – a camera back containing Polaroid film that can be fitted to other kinds of camera in order to take Polaroids. Many photographers use this system to check exposure and composition prior to shooting on film. Polaroid film backs are available in all film-based camera formats.

Print – a photographic image, usually on paper.

Print film – negative film.

Proxar – a lens that fits in front of a standard or long lens to give a close-up or macro view.

R

RA 4 – the chemicals used to develop colour negative film.

Red-eye – the effect of flash light reflected back into the camera from the retina at the back of the subject’s eye. It occurs most frequently when the camera flash is close to the camera lens and with ringflash.

Redhead – a type of tungsten light, affectionately known as Nicole, a famous redhead (Nicole Kidman).

Reflex camera – a camera that uses a mirror to reflect the image onto a screen for viewing and focusing.

Resin-coated paper – photographic paper in which the surface is strengthened with a thin layer of plastic, making it ideal for machineprocessing. It can pass through the rollers of a machine, and therefore it can also be used for dish processing. Available in a variety of finishes, including gloss and matt.

Resolution – the relative quality and fineness of detail in a digital photograph.

Retouching – altering an image to make corrections and improvements, or to change its character.

Ringflash – a circular flash tube fitted around the lens of the camera.

R-type print – a colour print made from a colour slide.

S

Sabatier effect – see Solarization.

Safelight – low-level lighting used in a darkroom which allows you to see what you are doing, without giving unwanted exposure to black-and-white prints.

Scan – the process of turning prints, negatives and slides into digital images.

Schadograph – see Photogram.

Silhouette – an image in which a person or object is shown in outline filled with solid tone. A hundred years before the invention of photography, silhouettes provided the public with an inexpensive means of producing their own likenesses. Silhouettes are used by contemporary artists such as Kara Walker, who creates subversive images of class and race.

Slave – see Magic eye.

Slides – direct positive images, also known as transparencies. Possibly derived from magic-lantern slides which were slid in and out of a projector.

Snapshot –- a spontaneously, casually taken image, often with a handheld camera.

Snoot – a cone attached to a light source to create a narrow beam of light.

Soft box – a large square or oblong unit containing diffusing material fitted to a flash head to soften direct flash light.

Soft focus – a slightly diffused image in which lines and edges are softened without distorting the image. It can be created with a specially made filter or by shooting through glass smeared with petroleum jelly. Used by Norman Parkinson.

Soft-focus lenses – lenses manufactured in the early 1900s to help amateur photographers create the effects of the popular Pictorialist group of photographers. See Pioneering artists with cameras, p. 136.

Solarization – briefly exposing a print or film to light or a flash during the developing process creates images that are part positive and part negative. Its unpredictability made it a favourite technique of the Surrealists, particularly Man Ray. Used by fashion photographer Erwin Blumenfeld in the 1940s in both colour and black and white. Also known as edge reversal and the Sabatier effect in honour of Armand Sabatier, the Frenchman who discovered the technique in the 1860s.

Spot meter – a light meter used to measure the light falling on a small area of a subject. Used to calculate exposure in difficult lighting conditions: for example, when a subject is backlit.

Stereoscopic photograph – a photograph giving the illusion of a three-dimensional view. Created using a camera with lenses set apart at about the same distance as our eyes, which shoots twin views of a scene that then appear three-dimensional when looked at through a binocular magnifier called a stereoscope. Used by Jacques-Henri Lartigue and experimented with by Eadweard Muybridge.

Stop bath – a solution used in processing to halt development before photographic film or paper is placed in the fix.

Strobe – a general term used in America for a flash light.

Strobe light/stroboscopic light – bursts of flash light in rapid sequence. Harold Edgerton photographed the swing of a golfer using 100 flashes in one second.

Swimming-pool light – an old-fashioned term for a massive studio light.

Synchroballistic photography – pictures taken with a photo-finish camera.

Sync lead – an electrical cord linking a flash unit to a camera so that the flash can be fired when the photographer wishes.

T

Talbotype – see Calotype.

Telephoto lens – a term indicating any lens with a long focal length: for example, 300mm or 400mm lenses. Also known as long lenses.

Test strip – a trial-and-error method of calculating the exposure of a photographic print. A number of different exposures are given to a strip of photographic paper placed over an important part of the image to help judge the correct exposure of the final print.

Tintype – a direct positive image on metal.

Tones – the strength of the greys between black and white.

Toning – using chemical baths to change the colour of a print.

Transparency – colour slide film.

Tripod – a three-legged stand that allows the photographer to steady the camera, aiding careful composition and focus. Used to anchor the camera during long exposures when camera shake might spoil a photo. It has the amazing ability to help us see the world beyond the power of our eyes by allowing really long exposures of many seconds, minutes or hours. Used, for example, by Hiroshi Sugimoto.

TTL – this stands for ‘through the lens’. A sensor inside the camera reads the amount of ambient light falling on the film. Some TTL systems also read the amount of flash light emitted by a flash gun, then automatically adjust the flash output.

Tungsten film – colour film designed to give natural colours when used in artificial light created by tungsten bulbs.

U

Ultraviolet – lightwaves beyond the visible portion of the spectrum which can be recorded on some photographic materials.

Umbrella – an accessory used to soften a light source. Some are designed to reflect light when it is shone into them, others diffuse light when it is shone through them.

Uprating – to expose a film at a higher ISO than is standard to the film. This under-exposure is compensated for during processing.

USB – a socket on computers allowing easy connection to cameras, printers and card readers using a USB cable. USB is short for Universal Serial Bus.

V

View camera – a camera in which the image to be photographed is viewed on a ground-glass screen at the back of the camera. View cameras are usually large-format cameras using either 5x4- or 10x8-inch film.

Viewfinder – a small window in a camera through which the subject is viewed and the photograph composed.

Vignette – the process of clouding the edges of a photograph, achieved in camera, in printing or by computer manipulation.

Vintage print – a photographic print created by a photographer at the time of or soon after taking the picture.

W

Wet-collodion/wet-plate process – a nineteenth-century photographic process for creating negatives. Glass plates were sensitized to light with a sticky mixture called collodion mixed with light-sensitive silver salts. While still damp, the plate was placed inside the camera and exposed; if the plate was left to dry its sensitivity greatly decreased. Used in combination with the albumen print. It replaced both the Calotype and the daguerreotype, and was replaced by the dry process from the late 1870s. Used by Julia Margaret Cameron.

White balance – the control on a digital camera that can be set to compensate for light sources that differ from daylight balance in order gain accurate natural colour rendition.

X

X-ray – a light source invisible to our eyes that produces wavelengths that can penetrate most substances to form a black-and-white shadow image on film. Used creatively by Helmut Newton.

Z

Zone system – an aid for determining the correct exposure and developing times to achieve the maximum gradation of grey values in a negative print. Created and used by Ansel Adams.

Zoom lens – a lens that can be adjusted to a range of focal lengths.