Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes — 60 Terms Defined

Selenium Toning Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes dilution ratio A treatment that converts silver to silver selenide, deepening blacks and giving prints a subtle cool or purplish shift.

Sepia Toning Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes A chemical treatment that converts a print's metallic silver into silver sulphide, producing warm brown tones.

Silver Halide Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes The light-sensitive compounds — silver bromide, chloride and iodide — that form the active ingredient of photographic emulsions. AgBr, AgCl, AgI

Solarisation Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes seconds A partial tonal reversal produced by briefly exposing a print or negative to light part-way through development.

Split-grade Printing Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes seconds per filter Exposing a variable-contrast print twice, once through a soft filter and once through a hard one, to control highlights and shadows separately.

Stand Development Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes minutes A technique using very dilute developer and almost no agitation over a long period, typically an hour.

Stop Bath Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes seconds A mildly acidic solution used after development to halt the process immediately.

T-grain Emulsion Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes An emulsion using flat, tabular silver crystals that present a larger surface area to light for a given volume.

Test Strip Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes seconds A piece of paper exposed in bands at increasing times, used to determine the correct exposure for a print.

Tintype Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes A wet collodion positive made on a thin sheet of blackened iron, producing a cheap, durable, unique image.

Variable Contrast Paper Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes grade equivalent Paper carrying two emulsions of different contrast and colour sensitivity, whose grade is set by the colour of the enlarging light.

Wet Plate Collodion Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes A process in which a glass plate is coated with collodion, sensitised, exposed and developed while still wet.