LIGHT AND DARK  

LIGHT AND DARK We have yet to devise and kind of technology that can perform the type of sophisticated color adaptation that your eyes pull off. Think about how fast your eyes focus on something near or far away. Now think about how long it can take for your camera to focus on an object near or far away. BIG DIFFERENCE

LIGHT AND DARK Understanding the difference between what your eyes can see and what your camera can capture, is an essential step for taking better pictures.

LIGHT AND DARK Most significant difference is the range of brightness that your eye can perceive. Your eye does this by opening and closing it’s iris, or pupil to limit the amount of light that strikes the retina.

DYNAMIC RANGE DEFENITION: The measure of the darkest to lightest tones that can be captured by a device. Your eye can see dark moonless nights, to harsh glaring suns. If you put it into a ratio, the brightest thing you can perceive is about a BILLION times brighter than the darkest thing.

Measuring light Different ways to measure light. Every time an amount of light in a scene doubles, photographers say that the scene has brightened by one stop, or f-stop. If you cut the amount of light in the scene in half, it has darkened by one f-stop. EVERY DOUBLING OR HALVING OF LIGHT IS MEASURED AS ONE STOP.

F - stop The human eye can perceive a total dynamic range of about 30 stops. While looking at a single scene, the eye can discern a dynamic range of about 15 f stops, the darkest thing and the brightest thing can be about 15 f stops apart. A camera has a range of 10 – 12 f stops, you expect to capture a range of 5 – 9 f stops.