Page 52 - NyghtVision Boot Camp One Fill Edition
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10. Understanding Dynamic Range
In this section we will learn how to maximize the color in an image.
We have touched on this several times so far. Now value of 256, what value would you assign this?
that we have a better idea as to how the camera works, v Look for the blackest point - it is usually in a
and we have discussed interpolation, understanding shadowed area. How close is it to absolute black (so
the dynamic range of color will make more sense. black you can’t see anything in that space? If this
When we discussed interpolation, we said that the were assigned a value of zero, how close are you to
camera sees the world as it is. It can’t fill in the blanks that?
or make the kinds of adjustments our brain routinely v Subtract the black number from the white. The
makes. No where is this more apparent than when greater the difference, the less color, detail and tex-
it comes to color and the intensity of light. When we ture the camera will see.
look at a white shirt in the bright light of the sun we
can see the buttons, or we think we can. The camera How to you fix this problem? By adding to the vol-
can’t. ume of light in the scene. If you can’t easily do that,
make sure the difference between the whitest white
Here are some basic things to keep in mind: and the blackest black is NOT more than two F-stops.
v Look for the “whitest” - or very brightest white If you can’t do that, meter so that the whitest white
- you can find in the scene you are about to photo- is not more than one F-stop over perfectly exposed.
graph. How close is it to absolute white? So bright
you can’t even look at it? If absolute white is given a
52 Boot Camp, Part 1
