Term: H and D Curve

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Term: H and D Curve

Definition:

The tone scale of a photographic negative is non-linear, with a relatively linear mid-section and lower contrast at both the high and low density parts of the film image. If measured and graphed, the values would look somewhat like the letter S. This is known as the H and D Curve. Alternate spellings include H&D Curve, HD Curve, and H-D Curve.

Category:

Image

Resource:

Film characteristic curves (Iowa State University Center for Non-destructive Evaluation)
https://www.nde-ed.org/NDETechniques/Radiography/TechCalibrations/Sensitometric.

Sensitometry (Wikipedia article)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitometry

See also: