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"H" terms

"Halation" to "Hypo"


HALATION - Blurred effect at the edges of a highlight area of a photograph caused by reflection of light that passed through the film. The light is reflected from either the surface of the film or the camera back.

HAZE - An atmospheric condition characterized by fine particles of dust, smoke or moisture in the air that causes a loss of contrast in an image because the haze scatters light particles.

Performers' headshots are typically black-and-white, 8
Performers' headshots are typically black-and-white, 8" X 10" prints.

HEADSHOT - Photograph, often in black-and-white, of a person's head and shoulders. Promotional headshots of performers and models are traditionally printed in 8" by 10" size.

Headshots do not have to be black-and-white. There are no hard and fast rules, but cost is often the factor that determines the type of print for a headshot.

HERTZ - A measurement of light's frequency, determined by the number of wavelengths that pass a given point in one second.

HIDE - Hide, another word for "Blind," is an enclosure that provides a concealed camera position within, and overlooking, an animal's territory. It is called a "hide" because it is meant to hide a photographer from the animals' vision.

HIGH CONTRAST - An image that is high in contrast (as opposed to a "flat" image), wherein the digital image file, or the negative, slide or print contains a wide density range.

HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE - A series of techniques enabling a photographer to capture a wider range of proper exposure in all areas of a scene than can be recorded by a camera in one exposure alone. It is achieved by making a number of different exposures, usually through bracketing, to properly expose the brightest areas, the mid-tones and the darkest areas. The pictures (in this case, three) are combined using an image-editing application like Adobe PhotoShop into one image that shows detail in each of the areas.

HIGH KEY - An image that is mainly made up of light tones, which relatively few mid-tones or shadows.

HIGHLIGHT - The brightest area of a subject or scene. When used in the plural, "Highlights" refer to the range of significantly brighter areas.

HIGHLIGHT DETAIL - Details that are visible in areas of an image that are brightest.

HISTOGRAM - a bar chart graph that shows all of the tones in a digital image. A photographer can use a histogram to understand and manipulate exposure. Many digital cameras have the ability to show the photographer a histogram of an image he or she has taken. Most image editing applications can create a histogram for an image. A well-exposed photograph will appear as a bell curve, with lower values at the dark and light ends. If the image contains a deep shadow area, there will be high values at the dark end of the graph indicating loss of shadow detail. If there is a white area in an image, there will be high values at the light end, implying loss of highlight detail. If there is nothing shown at the dark and light ends, the photo lacks contrast.

HOT SHOE - The sound you make when you sneeze. Just kidding. We're checking to see if you're still awake. A hot shoe is an accessory holder (or accessory shoe) on a camera that embodies an electrical contact so that, for instance, a flash unit can be triggered to go off. A small, portable flash that has a contact on its "foot" can be connected to a hot shoe, which will cause the flash to fire when you press the shutter release.

HYPERFOCAL DISTANCE - Technically, it is the distance between the camera and the hyperfocal point (See below). But, in practice, Hyperfocal distance is a lens setting technique that allows you to shoot sharp pictures within a certain distance range (depth of field) without having to refocus.

HYPERFOCAL POINT - When the lens is focused on infinity, the nearest point to the camera that is considered acceptably sharp is the Hyperfocal point. By focusing on the hyperfocal point, everything beyond it to infinity remains in acceptable focus, and objects halfway between the camera and the hyperfocal point will also be rendered acceptably sharp.

HYPO - A fixing bath composed of various chemicals including sodium thiosulfate and water. In processing film or prints, this solution removes any light-sensitive, silver-halide crystals that were not acted upon by exposure to light or by the developer, thereby stabilizing the final print or negative so that it will no longer react to light.