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Home  Glossary |
Fine Art Photography Glossary | | This is an ever-evolving glossary of photography related terms. They range from terms involved at the front end of, as Chris Ogden would say, "making" (not "taking") fine art photos, all the way through to Printing Fine Art Photos (ie, ways of bringing the photographer's artistic vision to life via a tangible print). Whether the photography type is stunning landscapes, intriquing abstracts, edgy man vs. nature, or more traditional corporate, commercial, and portraiture - there's something here for most everyone. We've tried to include content to appeal to other photographers (regardless of if you're shooting with a camera phone, a consumer point and click, a pro 35mm DSLR such as Canon 1dS Mark II, digital medium format, etc.) or collectors of Fine Art! | |
| | Showing All Entries... | Pages: 1 2 » | | | | Albumen Print | A process invented in 1850 by Louis-Desir Blanquart Evrard in which a contact print is made on a paper treated with a solution of egg white (albumen) and salt, then sensitized with silver nitrate, and exposed in sunlight. Because albumen prints are printed out through the direct action of sunlight on a sensitized paper without the need for chemical processing, their ease of production and ability to capture fine detail made them the most common type of photographic print in the nineteenth century. By the 1890s, albumen prints were supplanted by gelatin silver prints. (with thanks to the Aperture Foundation) | | | | | Chromogenic Print | A print made on photo-sensitive paper in a chemical darkroom (traditional or digital) involving three emulsion layers of silver salts sensitized to one of three colors (red, green, or blue). Unlike a dye-destruction print (see cibachrome), the dyes are not contained within each layer prior to exposure, but are made during the developing process by adding dye couplers which join the silver particles to produce the colors. The result is a color image formed by the three emulsion layers against a white background. Chromogenic prints are also known as Ektacolor prints, color coupler color prints, or Type-C prints. (with thanks to the Aperture Foundation) | | | | | Cibachrome Print | Also known as dye-destruction and dye-bleach prints. Noted for their vibrant color, brilliant clarity, and ability to resist fading, this positive-to-positive (transparency to print) process involves the use of enlarging paper that contains all of the dyes that compose the finished color print in three layers. During processing, using a conventional black-and-white developer, an acid bleach bath, and a fixer, dye elements in the colors not contained in the original transparency are removed, resulting in a full color image formed by the remaining dyes. Cibachrome (now Ilfochrome) is the trade name originally given to this printing process by Ilford/Ciba-Geigy in the 1950s. (with thanks to the Aperture Foundation)
| | | | | Color Managed Workflow | A color managed workflow consists of matching the colors from when they seen and captured by the photographer through to their genesis in the printed form via their final medium (eg, paper, canvas, etc.). Color management can be very difficult because the various devices in each step of the process display color in different ways (ie, reflected light vs. generated light) and with different abilities (ie, the amount and types of colors the human eye can resolve are different from that of a given brand of camera, scanner, monitor, printer, paper, ink, framing system, and even viewing light!
There are many (expensive) tools to help achieve consistency of color throughout the steps. Many books have been written on the subject. There are career professionals who do nothing other than color management and consulting. There are professionals who teach color management (such as Chris Ogden). | | | | | Gelatin-Silver Print | The most widely used black-and-white printing process, introduced in the late 1880s, employs papers coated with a gelatin emulsion of light-sensitive silver halide. The print is produced by exposing a negative onto the paper, either by contact-printing or through an enlarger. The print is then chemically processed, fixed, and dried. Gelatin silver prints may be toned using a variety of compounds or minerals to create a wide range of subtle hues. (with thanks to the Aperture Foundation)
| | | | | Giclee | Giclee (zhee-CLAY) is a method of printing that utilizes inkjet printers (as opposed to light-sensitive papers in a chemical darkroom). The origin of the term is French, meaning to "spray" or "squirt". As technology has improved, especially with the practical advent of 12 ink professional printers in early 2007, the quality of the photos - when done professionally, with the highest quality materials - can rival the old chromogenic prints, and more more, surpass them.
Unfortunately, in an attempt to differentiate between consumer inkjets and professional equipiment, the term has been over/mis-used in some sales/marketing contexts to artificially try and create an air of exlusivity, bordering on snobbery.
However, when done professionally - via a fully color managed workflow with the top of the line professional hardware, software, inks, papers, et al - the results can be amazing. With the latest technologies, lifespan for Fine Art Photographs are said to approach 200 years (a huge advance in the field of photography)!
| | | | | Iris Print | A digital process in which the original photographic negative or print is scanned into a computer, then printed to an Iris inkjet printer. Also called "Giclee from a French term meaning "spraying of ink," the prints can be produced on a variety of artist's papers. The paper is wrapped around the printer's drum, which rotates at a high speed while a set of nozzles distributes inks of the four process colorscyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Iris technology was first developed as a proofing process by commercial offset printers. The high quality of the process was noticed in the early 1980s by two pioneers of Iris printing: Graham Nash, of Nash Editions, and Jon Cone, of Cone Editions, who then developed inks that expanded the color range and archival quality of Iris prints. (with thanks to the Aperture Foundation)
| | | | | Limited Edition | A limited edition is one whose size is determined in advance by the publisher and the photographer. As in traditional printmaking processes, the photographs are signed and numbered (for example: 1/100, or one of one hundred prints). Artist's proofs, which are produced in order to ensure the consistent quality of the edition, are not included in the edition size, but are numbered separately (for example: 1/10 AP, or one of ten prints). The number of artist's proofs is generally limited to ten percent of the size of the edition. (with thanks to the Aperture Foundation) | | | | | Palladium Print | Platinum and Palladium Prints
A contact print made through a process in which a paper is sensitized with a solution of platinum and iron salts and developed in potassium oxalate. This process, first developed in 1873, was appreciated for its broad scale of middle tones, luminous whites, and high degree of permanency. Among the master photographers in Aperture's Limited Edition Collection who favored platinum printing were Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand. Strand took the process to an exalted level when he began hand-coating commercially prepared sheets with his own formula, then gold-toning the resulting prints.
The platinum process survived in commercial form until 1941 when the high cost of this rare metal caused manufacturers to cease production. But the process enjoyed a renaissance during the 1960s when photographers, who appreciated its broad tonal scale, detail, and permanence as well as the un manipulated contact print, began hand-coating papers. The advantages of hand coating include the ability to mix platinum and palladium salts and to use different types of paper, both of which enable the printer to control the tonality of the prints. Palladium is a more economical metal that can be used interchangeably or in combination with platinum in this process. Used alone, it produces prints with warm black to reddish-brown tones. (with thanks to the Aperture Foundation)
| | | | | Photogravure | A highly refined photomechanical process based on the etching, or intaglio, process. A copper or zinc plate dusted with fine granular resin is heated, covered with a sheet of bichromate gelatin tissue and contact-printed with a positive transparency to produce an image. After the gelatin tissue is washed away, the plate is then etched in an acid bath. Due to the interaction of the gelatin with the plate, highlights are resisted by the acid, while shadow areas become deeply etched. When the plate is inked and printed in an etching press, the tonality and details of the original positive are transferred onto paper. The photogravure process was favored by Pictorialst photographers for its rich tonal gradations, high resolution, and ability to translate subtle details. Most of the images in Alfred Stieglitz's Camera Work were reproduced by this process (with thanks to the Aperture Foundation) | | | | |
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