High Dynamic Range

Frog Pond

This was an experimental image.  I have read that an image including the sun has a dynamic range of 16 + stops.  By comparison the human eye captures 15 stops but not all at the same time. It goes from place to place building up a memory which encompasses the entire scene.  I had  been thinking that I was not shooting enough range in the HDR captures.  I had been shooting about twelve stops using five captures.  I wanted to see if I could shoot a wider range using 7 captures.  The low end was limited by the fastest shutter available on my camera, 1/8000, meaning that the sun contains lost detail.   I was able to go as far as I needed to go on the high end, meaning detail in the shadows.  The above image is the result.  I made no effort to eliminate the flare.

I heard someone say that we are able to accept lost detail in the sun when included in the frame.  I agree as I look at this.  I think, overall, my experiment was a success.  I achieved good detail in the low tones and lost a little detail in the high tones, but only the very high ones.

Incidentally, my information came from Michael Freemans's Book, Light and Lighting in Digital Photography.  I have an old copy dated 2007.  I suspect that some of his information has changed in the number of stops covered by an LCD display and a print.  He says that the print covers five stops.

Do not look directly at the sun with your naked eye!  Likewise, photographing the sun directly may cause damage to the sensor on your camera!

 Larry's Images



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