It's called Active D'lighting. It's turned on by default and when it's on, the camera processor increases brightness of the shadow areas while maintaining highlight details. The higher levels are for scenes with higher contrast. You can also go to the retouch menu option and apply the D'lighting retouch on an image to brighten the shadow areas.
The result is an HDR image which has uniform exposure throughout the frame. Only JPEG files can be shot in this mode and since two images are merged, HDRs should ideally be shot using a tripod to avoid improper image merging. Probably the most effective way to get the most out of a high contrast scene is to shoot RAW. The RAW file preserves most data in both the shadows and highlights. If the original exposure was about 2 to 3 stops under, then you can use Capture NX-D to apply shadow correction and most of the underexposed data can be recovered.
Do remember that any high contrast scene is potentially tricky and the above mentioned ways are to be tried when faced with difficult situations. Better try to avoid them in the first place by being at a location with the right kind of light. By : Nikon School Blog 17 Mar, Add Comment. Note : this tutorial requires a digital camera with spot-metering plus aperture priority or manual mode.
It also requires the willingness to stoop to some rudimentary post-processing. High contrast , or contrasty, light is most often found after dawn and before twilight on a sunny day with both sky and shadow areas in the same frame, as in Fig. High contrast can also occur in other circumstances, such as shooting indoors with a daylit window in the frame. Ultimately, any shot in which your camera wants to turn non-white areas to pure white Fig.
The novice or casual photographer puts the camera in full automatic mode and is happy to get any shot in which the subject is recognizable. A smaller number of camera users get bit by the photography bug, then gradually develop a sense of what a competent photograph should look like. In the post-processing workflow the different exposures can be automatically imported and accurately positioned for example in Photoshop as separate layers.
The last step is to manually blend the different exposures with the help of appropriate selection tools of the image editing software. The advantage: the photographer has complete control over the high contrast scene and it delivers excellent results.
The disadvantages: the method can be very time consuming, and it is not suitable for moving subjects like for example sea surf, trees and strong wind or people and animals in the scene. Advanced photo sensors of digital cameras offer an extremely wide dynamic range up to almost 15 EV.
This incredible dynamic range is possible because these sensors provide a very low noise level and the shadow areas of a picture can be strongly pushed without losing too much image quality.
The approach is quite simple: the exposure is adjusted to the highlights of the high contrast scene. As a result the shadows of the scenes are underexposed, sometimes even severely underexposed nearly black. The result is a correctly exposed image with detail in the highlight and the shadow areas comparable with bracketing …. The advantages: it is a very simple method, no tripod necessary, no bracketing necessary and also moving subjects can be shot based on this approach which is important especially for wildlife photographers.
But there are also disadvantages: the wide dynamic range of almost 15 EV is only available at ISO , higher ISO values gradually reduce the available dynamic range. The technologies above are common approaches of every professional landscape photographer, but with some practice the tips and tricks are also easily suitable for amateur photographers. It is very important to develop a feeling for the dynamic range of a scene. Advanced cameras offer tools like histogram or warning instruments for under- and overexposure.
As a result incorrect exposures on high contrast images should eventually come to an end and landscape photographers will hopefully be able to enjoy their travel time without any further disappointments. Accomplished media designer and photographer Dietmar Temps lives in Cologne, Germany and has amassed almost 20 years in the media business.
His first professional position as a photographic assistant took him through whole Europe and across the pond to America. After that he studied photo and media technology at the Cologne University of Applied Science. Currently he mainly realizes photo and internet projects with the focus on travel photography, social networking and video streaming. On his travel blog he writes about beautiful spots around the world which he visited in recent years. He realized many photo trips to Africa, but also to South America and Asia.
On his website a series of photo galleries are available where he presents his photographic work, which also is published in many books, magazines and travel blogs. Dietmar Temps Photography and media design Cologne, Germany dietmar. This website uses cookies and other tracking methods so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognizing you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
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