photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

, a printer point is a unit of relative exposure, in printing a negative, equal to a 1/12 of a

stop Stop may refer to: Places * Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States * Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina Facilities * Bus stop * Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck d ...

or 0.025 Log(base 10) unit (one-fortieth of a decade) of exposure ratio. This numbering scheme is used in

photographic printing Photographic printing is the process of producing a final image on paper for viewing, using chemically sensitized paper. The paper is exposed to a photographic negative, a positive transparency (or ''slide''), or a digital image file projected ...

and

photographic filter In photography and cinematography, a filter is a camera accessory consisting of an optical filter that can be inserted into the optical path. The filter can be of a square or oblong shape and mounted in a holder accessory, or, more commonly, a ...

s. Printer points were also used to specify

color timing Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...

for photochemical film processing, particularly for motion pictures shot on film. Increasing or decreasing the light by twelve points increases or decreases the exposure by a factor of two. Such adjustments are used for darkness and color adjustment in photographic enlargers, for example. A one-stop change in the exposure of a negative may require only an adjustment of about 6 to 8 printer points in printing, depending on the gamma of the film.Richard Kirk (2010)
Standard Colour Spaces
FilmLight Ltd.

References

Science of photography {{photography-stub