8 Aug
Photo Term Series #15: Dynamic Range
Posted in California, Landscape, Locations, Photography, Terminology, Yosemite by JimDynamic range, in relation to photography, most commonly describes the light sensitivity range of a photographic medium whether slide/print film or a digital sensor.
Unlike other definitions of Dynamic Range I think it’s important to discuss the relationship of the human eye and brain and what we determine as the standard of dynamic range. The eye is in all intents and purposes a sensor that can detect texture, shape and color with great sensitivity. Our brain, with years of learned understanding of how the world works and is constructed, quickly layers information together from detected light ranges to create an image of what is before us. As a result with out thinking we see the world with a high level of fidelity and detect detail from dark shadows to bright highlights.
Photographers often become frustrated because the tools at our disposal lack the ability to recreate the full range of light we inherently see. For film and digital alike, photographers think in terms of stops of light (referring to f/stop). It’s widely accepted that film has a dynamic range of 4-8 stops, digital sensors have a theoretical dynamic range of 10-14 stops and the human eye a dynamic range of 20-24 stops*.
Note: *The fixed dynamic range of our retina is about 6 stops, but exposure is variably adjusted chemically and by our iris as it contracts and expands.
Due to the disparate range of light detected between these mediums and our eye, photographic images and even prints have a perceivable difference in appearance compared to the true scene we see with our naked eye. Photographers using their artistic license have used the limited dynamic range of film or digital sensors to create different effects whether silhouettes or High Dynamic Range Imaging.
Dynamic Range in Digital Photography by Sean McHugh
Dynamic Range of the Human Eye - Wikipedia
The Eye and the Camera - Luminous Landscape
Example:
Note that for this slide film exposure of Half Dome below, the dynamic range of light and resulting detail isn’t equivalent to what you might see with your naked eye. Detail is challenging to see in both the highlights of the snow and the shadows of the trees and valley wall.
Technorati Tags: dynamic range, photography, terminology, light, sensitivity, human, eye, digital, sensor, film
Mark
on August 10 2007
One thing I have often thought about is the question of - do we really want to have a huge amount of dynamic range in our cameras? For decades we have grown used to seeing the soft light at the ends of the day and how they make most landscapes come alive. With more dynamic range, will we see more photography in harsher light conditions? I wonder…
jim
on August 10 2007
Mark this post was a precursor to another post I’ll be releasing in the next few days. My goal was to release the two posts very close together but this week has been a little rougher than expected so the second follow up post has been delayed.
To your comment there are a lot of technologies being pursued to replicate how we see the world either in relation to dynamic range or depth of field. Scientifically achieving these technological solutions is great, but is that going to make for a more interesting photograph to look at? I’d say likely not. They’ll have use in various applications such as security or what not, but for most photographers they don’t really add a lot of value or address a specific need. These photographic enhancements strike me more as techno-gadetry.
Link Roundup 08-11-2007 | Epic Edits Weblog
on August 11 2007
[...] Photo Term Series #15: Dynamic Range JMG-Galleries Definition of the photography term “dynamic range”. [...]
Landscape Photography and Nature Photography by Jim M. Goldstein - JMG-Galleries - Why I Hate HDR: Photo Technology Porn
on August 15 2007
[...] One of the longest standing challenges facing photographers has been working with photographic media that inherently has a lower dynamic range than what we, the photographer, see with our own eyes. This challenge has spurred a lot of innovative solutions enabling photographers to push film and digital media to their limit. These innovations have included various darkroom techniques for film, graduated neutral density filters for in the field use and a variety of digital dark room techniques including High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing. [...]
Should You Expose For Shadows Or Highlights? | Epic Edits Weblog
on August 20 2007
[...] Film and digital sensors make a record of light intensity. Bright light is recorded at a high intensity, while dim light is recorded at low intensity. Film and sensors have a limited ability to record light, and they can only capture light between certain intensities. If there is not enough light to register, you end up with black. If there is too much light, you end up with white. These high and low thresholds make up what’s called the dynamic range (definition by Jim Goldstein) of the medium. [...]
Landscape Photography and Nature Photography by Jim M. Goldstein - JMG-Galleries - Top 10 Most Annoying Photo Critique Comments
on September 2 2007
[...] 1. “Nice HDR” / “Is this HDR?” I realize this is a neat area to explore as of late, but for some reason there is nothing I dislike more than HDR images (See Why I Hate HDR: Photo Technology Porn). For those that don’t know HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and is a software approach to blending multiple exposures of a scene into one, providing a broader dynamic range to an image than would normally be seen with a single exposure. There are only a few people I’ve seen pull of HDR well and the rest look far from decent. I’m a bit of a photography purist in that I strive to nail my exposure. Sure I’ll use PS masks at times to balance an exposure, but no more than to recreate the effect of a graduated neutral density filter. HDR just looks artificial and thats the exact opposite of how I strive to display my images. [...]
Quick Tip: Shoot in RAW Format | Epic Edits Weblog
on October 17 2007
[...] Wider dynamic range [...]
Photo Term Series #18: Graduated Neutral Density Filter | JMG-Galleries - Jim M. Goldstein Photography: travel, landscape, and nature pictures - stock photos and fine art prints
on August 6 2008
[...] facing photographers is dealing with the limitations of film or digital cameras in regard to Dynamic Range. Over the years photographers have been and continue to be very creative in managing the limited [...]
Cross Processing Tips and Suggestions
on October 15 2008
[...] slide film has a lower dynamic range than color negative film. On top of that, cross processing tends to boost the contrast between [...]