Photographers’ gobbledygook can be confusing! This photography dictionary will help you find the real significance behind that jargon.
Hammer head
A type of larger portable battery fed flashgun (normally a Metz)
(see Metz)
HDR
High Dynamic Range imaging, a technique to combine several exposures in order to achieve a similar vision to the human eye. Several bracketed photos are combined in a photo manipulation program. For example you can combine an interior shot and the view outside a window into one perfectly exposed HDR image.
High key
Term describing a photograph which contains large areas of light tones, with few mid-tones or shadows.
(see Low key)
High Resolution (High Res)
Refers to a relatively larger number of pixels per inch in a digital image or scan, which yields a large digital file.
Highlights
The brightest areas of the subject or photograph.
Hold-back (shading)
Photo printing method to make parts of a picture lighter than it would normally have been.
(see Burning- in & Dodging)
Hood
A tube, usually made of metal or rubber, that prevents unwanted light from falling on the lens surface.
(see Flare)
Hot Shoe
The electrical fitting on a camera that holds a small portable flash and links the gun to the camera shutter mechanism.. This direct flash-to-camera contact eliminates the need for a flash sync. cord.
(see Accessory Shoe, Flash sync. & Shutter)
Hunting
An autofocus system that has trouble finding the focus in a low contrast image or in poor light 'hunts'; this is where the lens moves continuously from close-up to infinity looking for the correct point of focus .
Hyperfocal Distance
The Hyperfocal Distance or point is the nearest point to the camera which is regarded as acceptably sharp when the lens is focused at infinity. So when the lens is focused on the hyperfocal point, depth of field extends from infinity back to a distance halfway between the camera and the hyperfocal point. This method is used in fixed focus viewfinder and 'box' cameras to obtain a photo that would perhaps include both a far away mountain range and a close group of people in acceptable focus.
(see Depth of field)
Hypo
Popular name for a fixing agent, derived from an abbreviation of hyposulfite of soda, the misnomer applied to sodium thiosulphate during the 19th century.
(see Fix)
Peter Ashby-Hayter, Bristol, U.K. Bristol Photographer
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