Dynamic Range: what you need to know about capturing all the tones in a scene

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Which scenes cause problems for Dynamic Range

Backlighting
If you’re shooting into the sun or any other bright light source, the side of the subject facing the camera will be in shadow – there’ll be a huge brightness difference between your subject and the background.

Bright skies
Overexposed skies spoil landscape shots. On overcast days, the sky can be many stops (EV) brighter than the scene you’re photographing. A graduated filter will bring the sky within the camera’s dynamic range.

Interiors/exteriors
The difference between a window-lit interior and a daylight scene outside will almost certainly be too great for a single exposure. To show any detail through the windows, you’ll need to use HDR techniques.

Light sources in the frame
If you include light sources within the frame, the light source will be too bright to record at an exposure which renders the rest of the scene normally. Just accept that this area will be overexposed.

PAGE 1: Checking key areas of your picture
PAGE 2: High Dynamic Range techniques
PAGE 3: Scenes that cause problems for dynamic range
PAGE 4: How to measure dynamic range