a
machine used in photography to
produce a
picture larger than that of the original
negative. A
negative is a piece of photographic film (a
base layer of material covered with tiny particles of
silver that are sensitive to light and suspended in a jelly-like substance) that is placed in a camera and is exposed to light. When the light hits the light-sensitive particles on the film an
image is created. The resultant
image on the exposed film is "
negative" as the light areas in the original
scene photographed will appear dark and the dark areas will appear light. Because the
image on the
negative is usually smaller than the size people need the
final photograph to be, it must be
enlarged to be viewed easily. An enlarger enables one to take a
negative and reproduce its
image to any larger size needed. To do this, a
negative is placed in the enlarger and a very powerful light, called an enlarger light, is projected through the
negative onto a piece of photographic paper (paper that is sensitive to light, just as the
negative originally was). The dark areas on the
negative block the light and the light areas allow it to
pass, thus creating an
image on the light sensitive photographic paper at the bottom of the enlarger. The size of the
image on this photographic paper is adjusted by moving the enlarger up and down on a
column. By moving the enlarger up (farther away from the photographic paper), the size of the reproduced
image can be increased, as this allows more light to be
spread out onto the photographic paper. By moving the enlarger down towards the photographic paper, the size of the light hitting the paper is smaller and thus the size of the
image can be decreased. See also
negative in this glossary. I didn't even
hold back the enlarger light on that
burned-off
highlight over at the side, and it completely washes out that
bird's features over there.
n. a piece of
equipment used in a darkroom to reproduce a
picture larger than that of an original
negative. As the
image on a
negative is usually smaller than the desired size of the
final photograph, it must be
enlarged to be viewed easily. An enlarger enables one to take a
negative and reproduce its
image onto photographic paper to any larger size needed through the
use of a light (an enlarger light) and a lens. The enlarger is mounted on a
column and is moved up and down in relation to the photographic paper to adjust the size of the reproduced
image. Moving the enlarger up increases the images' size, and moving the enlarger down, decreases it. Additionally, corrective techniques exist by which the photographic prints or parts of it can be made lighter or darker.