The Canon Magazine 39
LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY
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CENTRAL HUMP
The lack of extreme highlights and
shadows means this low-contrast scene
fits into the camera’s dynamic range,
giving plent y of exposure latitude.SINGLE PEAK
When the histogram is pushed to the
right, then reducing the exposure, or
using an ND grad filter, can help to
restore detail in the bright areas.DOUBLE PEAKS
This scene’s dynamic range exceeds that
of the camera’s and there’s no exposure
latitude. Blending separate exposures
may be an option.Dynamic range
in action
Today’s digital cameras
can capture a wide range of different
brightness levels, but there is still a
limit. When the difference between the
brightest and darkest parts of a scene- the dynamic range – is so great that
you are unable to find a single
exposure that can capture detail in
both, then you’ll either have to
compromise or take steps to deal with
the problem, whether that’s in-camera
or in-computer.
These don’t always have to be giant
steps, as you may be able to process a
single Raw file to recover detail that
might otherwise be lost. If this is your
aim, then exposing for the highlights
and processing for the shadows is the
best option; for landscapes, that
means reducing the exposure on the
camera so that you capture detail in
the most important areas of the sky,
and then brightening dark areas when
you process the image on your
computer. As you’ll see over the page,
this can lead to an increased amount
of noise, but it’s preferable to trying to
rescue highlights that have been
completely blown out.
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(^01) FIXED RANGE
Cameras have fixed dynamic ranges, with some
offering a wider dynamic range than others.
(^02) EXPOSURE DIFFERENCE
Here, the exposure difference between the bright
sky and the land below is too big.
(^03) SHADOW DETAIL
The camera has given more prominence to
foreground detail, which blows out the sky.
(^01) HIGHLIGHT DETAIL
Exposing for the bright sky plunges the land into
darkness, illustrating the problem clearly.
(^02) COMPROMISE?
Expose for a midtone: you will get a brighter image,
but may lose details in both highlights and shadows.
(^03) FIX THIS!
To control the dynamic range, use graduated filters
or take a range of exposures and blend them.
EXPOSING FOR THE SHADOWS EXPOSING FOR THE HIGHLIGHTS
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Exposure
latitude
Changing the exposure makes a
landscape look brighter or
darker and pushes the
histogram to the right side of
the graph, or to the left, but it
doesn’t expand the overall
dynamic range. If the histogram
is squashed up against just one
side of the graph, then either
increasing or decreasing the
exposure will move the
histogram along the graph and
can potentially pull the clipped
information back within the
camera’s dynamic range.
Note this only applies if
there’s enough exposure
latitude. A narrow histogram
has lots, enabling you to make
fairly big exposure adjustments
without losing any details, but
landscapes are typically quite
high-contrast scenes, with
bright skies and dark
foregrounds...