Vistek Imaging and Photographic Terminology Database

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Warm colours: Are any colour which, by association suggest warmth, such as red, orange and yellow.

Washing: Is the final part of the processing cycle, which removes residual chemicals and soluble silver complexes from the emulsion.

Washing aid: A chemical solution used after fixing and washing the film or paper. It shortens the washing time by converting residues from the fixer into forms more easily dissolved by water. Also called hypo clearing agent.

Water bath: Are large water filled containers used to maintain processing trays, tank or chemicals at the correct temperature.

Watermark: Bits altered within an image to create a pattern which indicates proof of ownership. Unauthorized use of a watermarked image can then be traced.

Wavelength: Describes the distance from wave-crest to wave-crest between two corresponding waves of light in the electro-magnetic spectrum. Wavelength are measured in nanometers (nm) and Angstrom units (A).

Web Optimization: When a photo or graphic is produced its file size is often too large for use on a website. Optimization is acheived by reducing the size of a large file by converting it to GIF or JPEG format.

Web Safe Colours: Colours in which will display accurately and consistently on every version of internet browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, etc.) or computer platform (PC or Mac). There are 216 web safe colours.

Wetting agent: A chemical solution used after washing the film. By reducing the surface tension of the water remaining on the film, it speeds up drying and prevents water spots. Kodak version of this is called Photo-flo.

Whit point adjustment: An adjustment made that will determine the amount of highlight detail in an image. It is considered proper to set the white point so that the lightest part of an image will only just have zero detail.

White: The result of combining the additive primary colours (Red, Green and Blue).

White balance: The perceived colour of an object is affected by the colour of the lighting under which it is viewed. The human brain is able to detect and compensate for such changes in perceived colour. As a result, a white object will look white to humans whether viewed in sunlight or under overcast skies, or indoors under incandescent or fluorescent lighting. A digital camera must emulate the human brain and adjust colours accordingly to lighting so that colours appear white when viewed directly also appear white in the final photograph. This adjustment is called “White Balance”. Most video systems use a "white balance" to aid in overcoming colour problems created by adverse lighting conditions. The colour balance assumes that under normal conditions, that if a white object can be made to look white, then the remaining colours will be accurate too. If the original lighting is not close to the proper colour temperature (typically daylight), the "white balance" may reproduce white at the expense of other hues. Most digital cameras feature automatic white balance, this means that the camera looks at the overall colour of the image and calculates the best-fit white balance, however these systems are often fooled (especially if taking a photograph dominated by one colour, say green). Modern "prosumer" digital cameras also allow "white preset" which simply means measuring the white point from a white sheet of paper or card (or nearby wall), the camera will then record that temperature and use it to correct all images until you reset it.

White light: Light containing equal amounts of the primary additive colours of light. The human eye sees this light as colorless.

White point: The results of combining the additive primary colours, Red, Green, Blue.

Wide-angle lens: In 35mm format cameras, lenses with a focal length of approx. 35mm are called wide-angle lenses.

Working aperture: The widest aperture at which an acceptable image can be achieved.

Working distance: The distance from the front of the lens surface to the subject. The more frequently used term "shooting distance" refers to the distance between the subject and the film plane.

Working solution: A chemical solution diluted to the correct strength for use.

Worm: Write Once Read Many. Most common to optical disks. Worm refers to data storage that cannot be change once written. However, it may be read as many times as desired.

Wrong reading image: An image that is backward relative to the subject (a mirror image).

WS (Watts per second): For flash mode, the measurement of electrical energy in the flash.

WWW: World Wide Web. An interconnected network of electronic hypermedia documents are marked up in Hypertext Markup Language. Cross references between documents are recorded in the form of URLs.

WYSIWYG: An acronym for What You See Is What You Get. Refers to the ability to output data from the computer exactly as it appears on the screen. Pronounced WizzyWig

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