Photographers’ gobbledygook can be confusing! This photography dictionary will help you find the real significance behind that jargon.
Dark slide
Light-tight film holder for large format cut film.
Darkcloth
Cloth made of a dark material and placed over the Photographer's head and camera back to help the viewing and focusing of images on the ground glass screen of a Large format camera.
Day
A photographer's eight-hour work period. "That shoot will require a full day."
Day Rate
A pre-agreed, flat-rate photographer's fee, paid for up to one day of photography. Generally based on an 8-hour day.
Daylight film
Film balanced to a colour temperature of 5400K which will give a natural result with 'daylight' and also 'flash'.
Daylight tank
A light-tight container for film processing. Film is loaded in the dark after which all other processing steps can be carried out in normal light.
Dedicated flash
A flashgun designed for use with a specific camera. It links directly with the internal camera circuitry to help produce perfectly exposed photos.
Density
The blackness of an area in a negative or print. Sometimes referred to as contrast.
(see Contrast)
Depth of field
The distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph. Depth of field depends on the lens aperture, the focal length of the lens, and the distance from the subject.
(see Aperture & Focal length)
Depth of focus
Very narrow zone on the image side of the lens within which slight variations in the position of the film will make no appreciable difference to the focusing of the image.
Dev. (Developer)
A Chemical bath which converts exposed silver halides to black metallic silver, so making the latent image on exposed films or photographic papers visible.
(see Latent image)
Developing Tank
A light tight container used for processing film.
(see Daylight tank)
Diaphragm
The device, usually found inside the lens, which uses a set of interleaving blades to control the size of the aperture.
(see Aperture)
Diffuse Lighting
Lighting that is low or moderate in contrast; an overcast day is a good example.
Diffuser
Any material capable of letting light scatter (diffuse) through it.
Digicams
Popular term for a Digital camera. A camera that does not use traditional silver halide film.
(see Silver Halide)
Digital Asset Management System
A database program designed for tracking and organizing digital files, including documents, images, video etc. Usually the program also allows metadata to be added.
(see Metadata)
Digital Negative
Similar to a RAW file but an open format that does not need manufacturer-specific software, although a digital negative still requires processing before it can be used. Capable of delivering more colour and dynamic range than a TIFF or JPEG digital image file. Adobe 'dng' is a Digital Negative.
(see RAW, JPEG & TIFF)
Digital SLR
A digital SLR is simply a SLR camera that takes photos digitally (electronically) rather than using traditional film; popular examples are the Nikon D7500 and Canon EOS 90D.
(see SLR)
DIN (Deutsche Industrie Normen)
The German industrial standard for rating film speed. This scale indicates a doubling of speed by an increase of 3 in the rating; a rather complicated standard, it fell from widespread use during the early 'Seventies' although the late German manufacturer Agfa carried on using the system for film identification until more recently.
(see ISO)
Diopter
Close-up lenses (which screw into the front of an existing lens and act like a reading glass) are often marked in "diopters" (2.5 diopter close-up lens) The diopter value of a lens is calculated by taking the reciprocal of the focal length expressed in meters. Each diopter is the number of times the focal length of the lens will divide into one meter
'Local' control of density in photographic printing achieved by shading (using your hands, small pieces of card or various other dodging tools), therefore, holding back the image-forming light from a part of the photo to make that area of the print lighter.
(see Burning- in)
DPI (Dots Per Inch)
A measurement unit describing the resolution of hardware, such as a computer monitor or digital printer. Although strictly incorrect, it is now often used as the resolution unit for a digital image.
A duplicate of an original. Usually the term is used to describe a duplicate trannie.
(see Copy)
DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)
A high-capacity, electro-optical data storage media. Initially capable of storing approximately 4.7gb. Recent revisions of the technology can store more. Some types can be erased and recorded again.
(see Gigabyte)
DX
A Nikon Digital format. Some Nikon Digital SLRs have CCDs smaller than the area of a 35mm film frame therefore a DX lens will cause vignetting if used on a 35mm film camera. Used on a Nikon FX camera the format automatically switches to the smaller DX size.
(see Vignetting & FX)
DX code
An electrical system built into recent 35mm cameras to automatically adjust the camera for the correct film speed.
(see 35mm)
Dye sublimation
A printer that uses heat to transfer dye onto various types of medium material. Many consumer and professional dye-sublimation printers are designed and used for producing photographic prints. An advantage over inkjets is that prints are dry and ready to handle as soon as they exit the printer.
(see Ink Jet Print)
Glossary provided by www.peterashbyhayter.co.uk, and edited from many varied sources.
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