Photography is a technique, including processes and materials, that consists in fixing or reproducing over time accurate images of the real world on a photosensitive medium (silver photosensitive chemical with film or paper, digital sensor) by exposure to visible or non-visible light, such as infrared.

Medium-format film most often refers to cameras such as Hasselblad, Rolleiflex, Mamiya, Pentax 645Z or Fujifilm GFX using 120 or 220 photosensitive film, capturing shots with a 6 cm wide side, with variations such as 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9, 6x12 etc. The surface is therefore larger than film 135. The medium format today also concerns a range of digital cameras with a large sensor that can withstand the same optical conditions as its silver counterpart.