A photograph is an image created by the exposure of light on a light-sensitive material at some stage during its making.  It can be either a positive or negative image and made using one of many processes. 

As with prints, photographic prints are often produced in a limited edition and each photographic print is signed and numbered.  

Below is a list of the most common types of photographic prints.

• C-type: Since the 1950s the C-type print has been a popular form of photography. A C-type is a chromogenic colour print which uses chromogenic materials and processes. The print can be produced from an original which is a colour negative, slide or digital image. The chromogenic film used contains many layers of silver emulsion which are sensitised to different coloured wavelengths of light. Typically red, green and blue are the colours used to build up the image.

• Cibachrome: This type of print is a colour print made from a negative. Distinctively different from a C-type, this print is richer in colour and last longer as the dyes are incorporated into the emulsion rather than floating on top of the paper

• Digital: This type print is computer-generated using a photographic image which is converted into a digital file.  The file is then manipulated in programmes such as desktop publishing and in its final stage printed using a laser inkjet printer. Inkjet is a popular method and most commonly used to produce giclée prints. Lambda prints (also known as Light Jet) are also classed as a form of digital print. The digital image is printed onto silver photographic materials using lasers, which produces a very high quality of photographic print. Lambda prints are known for their sharpness, continuous tone and high impact colours.  

• Estate: This is a posthumous print that is normally commissioned by the photographer’s estate from the original negative. These types of prints do not hold the same value as prints made by the artist themselves.

• Photoetching (photogravure or heliogravure): This photographic technique uses an image formed on an intaglio metal plate, which is coated with a light-sensitive, acid-resistant ground. The plate is then exposed to light to reproduce a photographic image.

• Photogram: Here the image is created by placing an object onto photosensitive paper which is then briefly exposed to light, leaving the object’s imprint on the paper.

• Photolithograph: A stone or metal plate is sensitised using potassium bichromate. Once the plate is exposed to light in contact with a negative, the gelatin becomes insoluble to water. The water is then repeatedly used to remove the remaining soluble elements. The plate is then inked which adheres to the gelatin and a print is created using a press.

• Silver gelatin print: This technique creates a black and white photograph by exposing light to paper coated in gelatin carrying silver salts.

• Vintage print: This type of print is one that is produced around the same time as the negative (within 5 years is an accepted timeframe). This type of print is defined by chronology rather than by the materials used.

Diane Arbus, Artist. Owning Art: The Contemporary Art Collector’s Handbook by Louisa Buck and Judith Greer, Cultureshock Media, 2006