Software program that allows the operator to manipulate black and white and color images, changing such things as color, tone, contrast, size, scale and content.

Small areas lighter than the highlight, such as the “sparkle” in a cut glass vase.

Abbreviation for cyan, magenta, yellow and black—the four colors used in most color commercial printing. When printed using transparent inks, the three subtractive primaries—cyan, magenta and yellow—act as individual filters to transmit and absorb light reflected from the surface of the paper to create the colors seen by the eye. Intermediate colors—colors other than the subtractive primaries—are formed by laying one film of ink over another. Black is added to enhance the depth and extend the tonal range of all hues.

The relative difference between the light and dark areas of a photograph or other image. The greater the difference between the light and dark areas, the higher the contrast.

Printing a black and white photograph or other image using two shades of the same color or two different colors.

A calibrated scale that provides a series of gray levels of known density, arranged in order from the lowest, lightest, density to the highest, darkest, density. Used to describe an image that contains shades of gray, as well as white—a black and white image.

The basis of almost all commercial four-color printing, in which gradations of tone and color are achieved by a system of minuet dots, applied by the printing press.

An area of contrasting lightness or brightness. In printing, the lightest areas of the image.

The tonal value halfway between highlights and shadows.

A distracting, often wavy, pattern that appears in printed images. Subject moirés appear when the image that is reproduced includes grid or line patterns such as those found on fabrics or fences that clash with the pattern of the halftone dots. Screen moirés are caused by misaligned screens or imprecise register.

Printing a black and white photograph or other image in four different shades or colors. This publication refers primarily to quadtones made using the four process colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black—CMYK.

The tonal area between highlights and midtones.

A gridwork of fine lines or dots, opaque and distinct from one another, used to produce halftone images. Halftone screens come in a variety of rulings as measured by the number of crosshair lines per square inch.

A print or photograph made using a brown ink. Printing a black and white photograph in a brown tone, often used to create the impression that the image is an old one.

The dark, unilluminated parts of a photograph or other image. In printing, the areas of the image that are made up of dots that occupy 66 to 99% of the area. A solid black ink creates a 100% dot.

The tonal area between midtones and shadows.

Printing a black and white photograph or other image in three different shades or colors.