Photography I / Film and the Characteristic Curve
Practice question · Fill in the blanks

Complete the vocabulary of sensitometry.

The curving foot of the characteristic curve, where the deep shadows sit, is the ______. The flattening top, where the highlights are compressed, is the ______. The slope of the straight-line portion is the ______. One stop corresponds to a log exposure interval of ______.

Word bank: toe · shoulder · gamma · 0.30 · base plus fog · 0.10

Hints
  1. The first two blanks are named after parts of a foot and a body.
  2. The last blank is the base-ten logarithm of two.
Show the answer

The curving foot of the characteristic curve, where the deep shadows sit, is the toe. The flattening top, where the highlights are compressed, is the shoulder. The slope of the straight-line portion is the gamma. One stop corresponds to a log exposure interval of 0.30.

Why

The last blank is the conversion that makes the whole graph usable. Once a stop is 0.30 in log exposure, a seven-stop scene occupies 2.10 on the horizontal axis, and you can read straight off the curve whether the film will hold it.

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