The ABC of Photography – Instamatic
The name of a hugely popular series of low-cost, easy-to-use cameras made by Kodak. First sold in 1963, Instamatics used Kodak’s cartridge-based 126 film. In 1972, the company introduced the…
The ABC of Photography – Antialiasing
Antialiasing A method of smoothing diagonal or curved lines in digital images to avoid a ‘staircase’ or ‘stepped’ appearance (also called ‘jaggies’), caused by the fact that the pixels making…
The ABC of Photography – Angle of view
Angle of view A measurement of how much a lens can see of a scene from a particular position, usually measured in degrees. The longer the focal length of the…
The ABC of Photography – Auto-bracketing
The ABC of Photography -Auto-bracketing A feature on some cameras that enables you to automatically shoot a sequence of shots of the same scene at slightly different shutter speeds (or…
The ABC of Photography – Astrophotography
Astrophotography Photography achieved by attaching a camera to a telescope and concerned with recording images of astronomical objects in the night sky such as stars, planets and the moon. Astrophotography…
The ABC of Photography – A-spherical lens
A lens element that has a surface that isn’t perfectly spherical. All camera lenses are made up of a number of individual lenses or elements. Many of these elements are…
The ABC of Photography – Ambient light
Ambient light The existing light in a particular scene, which may be sunlight, moonlight or an artificial light already providing illumination. It excludes any light source added by the photographer,…
The ABC of Photography – Alternative processes
Alternative processes This term refers to a range of photographic processes, mostly dating from the late 19th and early 20th century, which devotees continue to use for their unique…
The ABC of Photography – Albumen print
Albumen print A type of photographic print invented in 1850 by Frenchman Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard (1802-1872). It consists of a sheet of paper coated in egg white (albumen) and salt,…
The ABC of Photography – AF illuminator
AF illuminator This is a system used by some cameras and flashguns to assist autofocus in low light. A pattern of red light is projected on to the subject, which…