Basic exposure 45The same light coupled with the
light-colored room divider on the
right made this available light
photograph possible. The window
light illuminated the woman, and
the refl ectance from the divider
provided fi ll light on the man’s
face. Without that panel, his face
would have been quite dark, pos-
sibly needing some fi ll fl ash. Using
a fl ash in these types of situations
is distracting to subjects, making
them more camera aware, and
candid moments are often lost.
The subjects’ red shirts sure helped
the image “pop” too. © 2007
Barry Staver.
interest to the photograph. Turning on these additional lights
within a room will give an otherwise plain image a real boost.
Including a reading lamp with the person using it for illumina-
tion also adds a reality factor to the shot by showing where the
light source originated.
Exterior shots benefi t from lights within the scene too. A street-
light, storefront lighting, interior lights shining out through
windows—all give extra sparkle to the photograph. Be sure that
the technical and/or aesthetic quality of your image isn’t adversely
affected. On the techie side, careful metering should keep the
light sources in the shot from overpowering the exposure, causing
an underexposed photograph. Aesthetically, keeping the lights
from overpowering your subject will ensure their inclusion as
accent items only. A prominent light in the foreground will draw
attention away from your subject very quickly.Creating high dynamic range images
A photograph’s dynamic range is the ratio of contrast, tonal
range, or density between black and white, and can literally be
interpreted as the range of f-stops that can be captured from a
clean white to total black. Some photographers may recognize
that these tonal areas are what Ansel Adams’s Zone System calls
Zones IX and 0. The problem facing all photographers is that
most digital cameras—and fi lm cameras, for that matter—
compromise when it comes to capturing the overall tonal range
of a particular scene.
Let’s do the math: real-world scenes contain light ranges that are
far in excess of what printed media allow to be produced. So