Trying to get the very brightest and very darkest parts of a picture to retain details and texture can be a frustrating process, but there are ways of making the contrast of a scene match the dynamic range of your camera
In photography, we define dynamic range as the difference between the brightest and darkest parts of a picture where we can still see detail. To put some numbers to this: the human eye can detect details in highlights and shadows that are about 20 stops (or 1 million times) apart in terms of brightness. However, our digital cameras can only see details in highlights and shadows separated by about 12 to 14 stops of dynamic range (roughly 4000-16,000 times).
This makes for a tough choice: get detail in the highlights by underexposing, and thereby losing detail in the shadows, or overexpose to bring up the shadows, but lose the highlights in the process. This might sound like a no-win deal, but there are other methods we can use to maximize image quality in situations like this.
© Andy Noble
These techniques fall broadly into two categories: we can modify the contrast of the scene we’re photographing to fit the camera’s dynamic range; or we can expand the camera’s dynamic range to fit the scene.
Method 1: Changing the Scene
Techniques that fall into this first category include using reflectors or fill-in flash to brighten shadows, so they become closer in brightness to the highlights and within the dynamic range of the camera. Obviously, this only works on a relatively small scale – it’s easy to use a reflector when making a portrait, but not really when framing landscapes, for example.
Diffusors also work well when making portraits in high-contrast conditions. By softening hard light, they reduce the brightness of highlights, bringing them closer to the shadows and narrowing dynamic range again.
Method 2: Changing the Camera
There are a number of ways of changing your camera’s behavior to allow you to you photograph more dynamic range. The first (and easiest) to try is the built-in Dynamic Range setting in the Image Quality Setting menu (this can also be accessed via the Q Menu). By default, this is set to 100%, but increasing it to 200% will get you another stop of dynamic range. Going further to 400% delivers yet another stop.
To access these 200% and 400% settings, you’ll need to be using an ISO sensitivity at least one stop or two stops higher than the base ISO, respectively (eg if your camera’s lowest ISO is ISO 160, you’ll need to set ISO 640 to use a dynamic range of 400%). You’ll notice there is also an AUTO setting – this chooses either 100% or 200% depending on the conditions.
On FUJIFILM cameras, Dynamic Range works by first deliberately underexposing the image to protect highlight detail, then boosting shadow brightness when the sensor data is converted in a JPEG file by the image processor.
Dynamic Range is also one of the bracketing options available in the SHOOTING SETTING > DRIVE SETTING menu. If you’re not sure how much to apply, this is a great way of covering all the bases.
Also available on selected X Series cameras is D Range Priority. This uses the Dynamic Range settings described above in conjunction with the camera’s Highlights and Shadows settings to really pull back detail in problem areas. To access it:
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- Navigate to the IMAGE QUALITY SETTING > D RANGE PRIORITY menu.
- Select from AUTO, STRONG, WEAK, or OFF.
The AUTO setting will set STRONG, WEAK, or OFF according to the lighting conditions.
Shooting Raw Files For More Dynamic Range
Also try photographing RAW files to increase dynamic range. Unlike JPEGs, RAW files contain all of the sensor data that the camera recorded when you made the picture, and this can be used to recover burnt-out highlights or dark shadows in post-processing. Just use the whites/highlights or blacks/shadows controls in your RAW processing software.
Bracketing and HDR
To record even more detail than a RAW file, consider creating a bracketed sequence of three pictures, with the exposure of each differing by one to two stops. These can be combined using software like Adobe Photoshop to create a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image, which contains lots more information than a single RAW file.
This HDR image can be viewed on an HDR TV, if you have the right hardware, or can be edited into a tonally compressed JPEG image that matches more closely what you can see with your eyes. The perfect result!
The Traditional Way
Last, don’t dismiss traditional glass filters. Landscape photographers are very used to darkening skies with graduated neutral density (ND) filters, bringing them closer in brightness to the darker landscapes, so every area of the scene falls within the camera’s dynamic range. This works best when there is a straight line between the bright and dark parts of the picture (such as along the horizon). You can buy ND grad filters with different graduation softnesses as well as different powers.
© Andy Noble
Your Next Steps
- CHALLENGE Go out and photograph an HDR image, using your camera’s autobracketing function to create the images you need. Process them in your favorite software and post the results to social media with the hashtag #MyFujifilmLegacy and #HDR. You can also submit your work here for a chance to be featured on our social media channels.