Glossary

NTSC VHS video format used in North America and Japan. PAL VHS video format used in Australia and Europe (excluding France).

Term used in multiples publishing when only a limited number of any print, book, sculpture or other artwork is produced. Editions can be limited to almost any number depending on the nature of the work.

Gicler, a French verb meaning ‘to spurt’, is another industry term for inkjet printing. See inkjet.

Paper or material-based paper type used in printing black and white images from negatives (C-type). Available in all surface finishes, this thicker paper has a high-quality texture, gives an excellent finish, and adds ‘depth’ to the image through the faint weave of the paper/fibre.

Dye, unlike pigment, dissolves completely in solution (pigment-based inks leave tiny particles floating in the solution). This means that dye-based inks are entirely absorbed into the paper that they are printed on – the image is in fact a highly controlled stain. The resulting images can thus appear very slick and even, with a vast…

Digital printing that produces images directly on to the material (e.g. canvas or special paper surfaces) from a digital file through a stream of very fine dye drops controlled by the computer system. (See also Giclée prints)

Digital colour coupler Colour coupler prints, or chromogene prints, are very similar to standard C-type prints, but the silver salts ‘couple’ with coloured dyes, rather than being replaced by them. The end result is very similar to standard C-type prints. Colour coupler prints have the benefit of using the same extremely light-sensitive silver salts as…

An Interneg produced by digital means, rather than traditional photographic methods. Digital internegs are made by scanning an original negative or its positive image, before laser-writing the digital negative.

C-type printing involves printing colour paper enlargements from small, colour negatives. This is the most common type of colour printing found in the high street and mini-labs.

CMYK is an industry standard abbreviation for cyan, magenta, yellow and black. These are the colours used in standard four-colour printing (as in inkjet and Iris printers).

Chloro-bromides share the features of all silver gelatin prints, giving deep rich blacks and crisp whites on a high gloss paper, as well as having good archival properties. Compared with silver bromides or silver chlorides, they have a warmer brownish-black tone.

Different types of photographic paper have varying degrees of susceptibility to fading over time. The main cause of this is exposure to UV (ultra violet) light, although humidity, temperature, pollution and acidity are all contributing factors. Exposure to direct sunlight should be avoided, and UV-resistant glass can be used when framing.