Definition: Light Absorbers; absorption;

Definition: Light Absorbers; absorption; | Glossary entry

Light Absorbers; absorption;

These are a class of materials and light modifiers that tend not to reflect or bounce light and are coloured black so that all wavelengths of light are absorbed. The general class of absorbers are used to intensify darks, increase contrasts and reduce the light bounced or reflected from within the scene.

There is no such thing as a perfect absorber (or we would not be able to see it). Black surfaces with a variety of different characteristics give different types of absorbing effects. For example, black velvet is very highly absorbent – the fine black hairs tend to stop any reflection. Black foam-core board is quite efficient but has a slight sheen of reflection.

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Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photog and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photographers.
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