Photo Glossary

Nanometer

It is a unit of measurement of light wavelength. A nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter.

ND

Neutral Density filter. Used to evenly reduce the light passing through a lens without affecting the colour.

Negative

The developed film that contains a reversed tone image of the original scene (shadows are light and the highlights are dark).

Negative carrier

Supports the negative between the light source and the enlarging lens of an enlarger.

Neutralizer

It is a chemical designed to counteract and make inactive another chemical solution.

Nodal points

Two points on the lens axis where a ray of light enters and leaves. The front point is where image distance is measured from and the rear one is where the focal length is measured from.

Noise

An unwanted grain pattern that appears in dark areas of the image. Often caused by high ISO settings.

Normal lens

A lens with a focal length approximately equal to the diagonal of the film format for which it is being used.