toe

Definition: Shadow region of film characteristic curve. * That portion of a density-log Exposure curve between the base plus fog level to the start of the straight-line portion. Sensitometric foot fetishes The shape of the toe portion of a characteristic curve tells you a lot about the shadow response of the film/developer/development combination: a liesurely but steady lift upwards from the fog level towards the mid-tone or straight-line portion is a 'long' toe that enables one to squeeze a bit more speed out of a film (i.e. to exploit the so-called foot speed) whereas a sudden lift up from fog into the straight-line portion of the curve means little hope of rescuing details from the shadows. We photographers do like long toes. (Which, incidentally, is not something you get from most scanners.)

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