15 September 2007 Dynamic Range
The concept of dynamic range in photography is an interesting one. First we have to realize that the human eye, the product of millions of years of evolution, is a much better tool than almost any camera at capturing and processing light. I remember when my mom bought my brother and me two small, cheap Kodak cameras: our initial excitement was matched only by the let-down when our first photos came back. The photos looked nothing like what we saw! I remember asking my mom why the pictures didn’t look just like what the world looked like to me every day, and although I don’t remember her answer I certainly know it now: The eye is not a camera, and vice versa.
One of the crucial differences is that a camera can capture much less dynamic range than a human eye can. An eye is capable of discerning detail in both very light and very dark areas at once. A camera, though, has something like half the dynamic range an eye is capable of. It can see either the dark areas or the light areas, but not both simultaneously. This is why photographers have always been forced to expose for the highlights, keeping the detail in the brightest areas of the photo (sunlight glinting on hair or off the water, say), or expose for the shadows, keeping detail in shadows and preventing them from turning into black blobs on the page.
One of the strengths of my camera, the Fuji S5, is that it has better dynamic range than any other camera in its class. To achieve this it sacrifices some resolution, but photography is all about compromise.
This photo I took today in Osaka displays the S5′s fantastic dynamic range. It has lots of really nice detail in the bright white clouds, but keeps the detail in the black monolithic building and shadows underneath it.
Click to embiggen!
1 comment in “Dynamic Range”
September 19th, 2007 at 12:18 am
I thought this was an HDR shot when I first saw it, actually. The camera does seem to have a good range.