Phototype
Encyclopedia
- Phototype can refer to a metal printing block, sometimes prepared using photogravurePhotogravurePhotogravure is an intaglio printmaking or photo-mechanical process whereby a copper plate is coated with a light-sensitive gelatin tissue which had been exposed to a film positive, and then etched, resulting in a high quality intaglio print that can reproduce the detail and continuous tones of a...
to reproduce a photograph in printing. The block may be a halftoneHalftoneHalftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous tone imagery through the use of dots, varying either in size, in shape or in spacing...
image.
- Phototype can also refer to type set using a phototypesettingPhototypesettingPhototypesetting was a method of setting type, rendered obsolete with the popularity of the personal computer and desktop publishing software, that uses a photographic process to generate columns of type on a scroll of photographic paper...
process to prepare pages for photo lithographyLithographyLithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
. This process replaced hot metal typesettingHot metal typesettingIn printing and typography, hot metal typesetting refers to 19th-century technologies for typesetting text in letterpress printing. This method injects molten type metal into a mold that has the shape of one or more glyphs...
. It was common throughout the 1970's and 1980's and was in turn rapidly rendered obsolete by modern systems which employ a raster image processorRaster image processorA raster image processor is a component used in a printing system which produces a raster image also known as a bitmap. The bitmap is then sent to a printing device for output. The input may be a page description in a high-level page description language such as PostScript, Portable Document...
to render an entire page to a single high-resolution digital image which is then photoset.
- Skin phototype depends on the amount of melanin pigment in the skin. It is assessed on a scale from 1 to 6. See Fitzpatrick scaleFitzpatrick scaleThe Fitzpatrick Scale is a numerical classification schema for the color of skin. It was developed in 1975 by Thomas B. Fitzpatrick, a Harvard dermatologist, as a way to classify the response of different types of skin to UV light...
for more details.
| Skin Phototype | Typical Features | Tanning ability |
| I | Pale white skin, blue/hazel eyes, blond/red hair | Always burns, does not tan |
| II | Fair skin, blue eyes | Burns easily, tans poorly |
| III | Darker white skin | Tans after initial burn |
| IV | Light brown skin | Burns minimally, tans easily |
| V | Brown skin | Rarely burns, tans darkly easily |
| VI | Dark brown or black skin | Never burns, always tans darkly |