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Dynamic Range

Lesson 36 from: Fundamentals of Photography 2016

John Greengo

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Lesson Info

36. Dynamic Range

Next Lesson: Exposure Modes

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Class Introduction

17:26
2

Welcome to Photography

13:08
3

Camera Types Overview

02:00
4

Viewing Systems

28:43
5

Viewing Systems Q&A

08:45
6

Lens Systems

32:06
7

Shutter Systems

13:17
8

Shutter Speeds

10:47
9

Choosing a Shutter Speed

31:30
10

Shutter Speeds for Handholding

08:36
11

Shutter Speed Pop Quiz

09:06
12

Camera Settings

25:35
13

General Camera Q&A

14:38
14

Sensor Sizes: The Basics

15:33
15

Sensor Sizes: Compared

19:10
16

Pixels

20:13
17

ISO

21:13
18

Sensor Q&A

13:34
19

Focal Length: Overview

11:09
20

Focal Length: Angle of View

15:09
21

Wide Angle Lenses

08:48
22

Telephoto Lenses

25:23
23

Angle of View Q&A

09:29
24

Fish Eye Lenses

10:39
25

Tilt & Shift Lenses

23:42
26

Subject Zone

17:19
27

Lens Speed

09:56
28

Aperture Basics

08:46
29

Depth of Field

21:49
30

Aperture Pop Quiz

13:23
31

Lens Quality

18:30
32

Photo Equipment Life Cycle

03:57
33

Light Meter Basics

09:25
34

Histogram

15:25
35

Histogram Pop Quiz and Q&A

10:58
36

Dynamic Range

06:03
37

Exposure Modes

15:58
38

Manual Exposure

09:38
39

Sunny 16 Rule

05:54
40

Exposure Bracketing

10:18
41

Exposure Values

27:21
42

Exposure Pop Quiz

26:43
43

Focus Overview

16:15
44

Focusing Systems

05:15
45

Autofocus Controls

11:56
46

Focus Points

07:35
47

Autofocusing on Subjects

20:19
48

Manual Focus

07:52
49

Digital Focusing Assistance

03:40
50

Focus Options: DSLR and Mirrorless

04:58
51

Shutter Speeds for Sharpness and DoF

05:20
52

Depth of Field Pop Quiz

12:14
53

Depth of Field Camera Features

04:54
54

Lens Sharpness

09:58
55

Camera Movement

05:20
56

Handheld and Tripod Focusing

04:32
57

Advanced Techniques

07:12
58

Hyperfocal Distance

06:50
59

Hyperfocal Quiz and Focusing Formula

04:36
60

Micro adjust and AF Fine Tune

05:34
61

Focus Stacking and Post Sharpening

06:00
62

Focus Problem Pop Quiz

18:07
63

The Gadget Bag: Camera Accessories

25:30
64

The Gadget Bag: Lens Accessories

12:46
65

The Gadget Bag: Neutral Density Filter

20:43
66

The Gadget Bag: Lens Hood and Teleconverters

08:55
67

The Gadget Bag: Lens Adapters

05:43
68

The Gadget Bag: Lens Cleaning Supplies

04:34
69

The Gadget Bag: Macro Lenses and Accessories

15:57
70

The Gadget Bag: Flash and Lighting

05:08
71

The Gadget Bag: Tripods and Accessories

18:50
72

The Gadget Bag: Custom Cases

11:20
73

10 Thoughts on Being a Photographer

07:37
74

Direct Sunlight

25:04
75

Indirect Sunlight

18:49
76

Sunrise and Sunset

18:39
77

Cloud Light

14:48
78

Golden Hour

09:50
79

Light Pop Quiz

07:53
80

Light Management

14:00
81

Artificial Light

13:56
82

Speedlights

16:02
83

Off-Camera Flash

27:38
84

Advanced Flash Techniques

09:49
85

Editing Overview

08:24
86

Editing Set-up

08:06
87

Importing Images

16:45
88

Best Use of Files and Folders

20:54
89

Culling

20:56
90

Develop: Fixing in Lightroom

18:13
91

Develop: Treating Your Images

10:53
92

Develop: Optimizing in Lightroom

14:51
93

Art of Editing Q&A

06:01
94

Composition Overview

06:53
95

Photographic Intrusions

10:10
96

Mystery and Working the Scene

16:18
97

Point of View

09:11
98

Better Backgrounds

16:02
99

Unique Perspective

11:02
100

Angle of View

15:06
101

Subject Placement

41:14
102

Subject Placement Q&A

05:18
103

Panorama

07:39
104

Multishot Techniques

13:57
105

Timelapse

16:13
106

Human Vision vs The Camera

20:07
107

Visual Perception

08:35
108

Visual Balance Test

22:56
109

Visual Drama

12:25
110

Elements of Design

28:57
111

The Photographic Process

12:28
112

Working the Shot

27:38
113

The Moment

04:42
114

One Hour Photo - Colby Brown

1:04:32
115

One Hour Photo - John Keatley

1:03:05
116

One Hour Photo - Art Wolfe

59:01
117

One Hour Photo - Rocco Ancora

1:01:20
118

One Hour Photo - Mike Hagen

1:01:20
119

One Hour Photo - Lisa Carney

1:00:52
120

One Hour Photo - Ian Shive

1:08:00
121

One Hour Photo - Sandra Coan

1:10:29
122

One Hour Photo - Daniel Gregory

1:06:07
123

One Hour Photo - Scott Robert Lim

1:05:41

Lesson Info

Dynamic Range

So, the dynamic range is the range from the darkest to the brightest. How big of area can our camera capture? And this is one of the areas where our eyes and our cameras are very different. And the difference is that our eyes adjust for areas of darkness and areas of brightness, and when we're taking a photo, we have to capture one single shot that covers the darkest to the lightest the best that it possibly can. And so, this is measured in stops, and black is gonna be zero, and pure white is gonna be some number on the high end, and the question is how many steps in between black and white can we fit into our cameras? Can our sensors handle? And this really has to come down to the RAW capabilities of the sensors in our camera. And let me share with you some photographs that are of a high dynamic range. So, these images have a variety of pixels in them ranging from bright to dark. Now, one of the things is if you look and compare all of these photos as to say something that is common a...

bout all of these photos is that they all have land and sky in the photographs. Typically, the sky is kind of bright, and typically, the land is a little bit on the darker side. And so, things on the ground tend to be a little bit darker, and things in the sky tend to be a little bit brighter. So, here's an image that has some sky and land-- well, at least stuff on land, and so it has a very wide dynamic range. Look at that histogram at the bottom of the screen. We've got a big ol' spike on the left, and that's partly because we've got that overhang and a little bit of roof down there at the bottom of the frame, and we have a little bit of a spike over on the right-hand side, and that's probably coming from the lights right over where it says "City Fish Market." All right, so we have a wide range of tonality. This is what I captured in-camera, so I took it in to Photoshop, Lightroom, one of the programs, and I tried to compress the tonal range. I tried to lighten up the darks, and I tried to darken up the lights. And you can see the histogram. I have created a mountain in the middle. Originally, over here, it's all spread out. And so what I've tried to do is I've tried to compress it all, and that photograph does not work. It just doesn't look good at all, and so what I'm trying to say by this is if you have a wide dynamic range that you capture, you're not gonna be able to fix it later. Now, there are a few little tricks, and we'll talk about a few things as we go through this, but if you have a really bright light and a really dark area, that is gonna be a really challenging situation in which to capture in a single shot in your camera. Let's look at the other scenario: a low dynamic range. Look at these images. See what they have in common. Notice they don't have the sky in them, except the image in the bottom left, which is all sky. And so it's not land and sky. These are things of a similar tonality. Let's look at this one image right here. Look at the histogram for this. Most all of the information is gathered right in the middle, so it's mostly middle-tone gray which is this gray water. There's a little spike over to the right, which is probably some of the boats, and it does extend off to the right and the left a bit, but most all of the information is in the very middle. Now, I'm gonna take this image into post-processing, and I'm gonna add contrast to this particular image. And I've spread that histogram out just a little bit. You see how that histogram is a little bit wider? And that image has a little bit more crispness and sharpness to it. I mean, technically it's not sharper, but we've added contrast, which makes it look sharper. So, we can take images that don't have a lot of contrast, and we can kind of improve them from what they originally were recorded at in our cameras, and so you can take low contrast and do a little bit of increase in the contrast, and that'll improve it, so it's kind of a one-way street when it comes to contrast. It's hard to decrease it later on, but it's easier to increase it later on. And so we want to be very aware of really wide ranging situations when we're out shooting. So the dynamic range is really built in to the sensor on your camera. It's just--it is what it is, and there's nothing that you can do about it, about shooting at different ISOs or shutter speeds or apertures. It is the inherent capability of your camera. So, let's take a look at some of the best cameras currently on the market. Notice a little theme here. Nikon's got a good thing running right now, okay? so Nikon has figured out how to get a lot of dynamic range out of their cameras, and so these are some of the best tested cameras on the market available today. Here are some other popular cameras, just a range of cameras that you might be interested in, and on this EV scale, remember we talked about EV at the beginning of the first day, 12 EV is considered excellent, so the Canon 7D Mark II at 11.8 just falls slightly under, which means it's really close to excellent, and so most of the cameras on the market are going to fall into this excellent category. Some of them up at close to 15 stops can be really handy because it's gonna be able to handle lighter and darker situations at the same time. Now, the place that I got these readings that you can go check out your own camera is dxomark.com, and you can look under the sensor ratings under an aspect called the landscape or the dynamic range, and that will give you the rating. They test all of the new cameras as they come out to see how good they are at different dynamic range. Now, I don't even know the dynamic range of the cameras that I own. I mean, I've gone and done this, so you could see what the numbers are. I don't know what they are on my camera. I don't want to quite say that I don't care what they are, but they just are what they are, and I've learned to work with the cameras because all cameras have a limited range. They have a range. So, this is one of things you can do just to see how your camera performs against everything else. In general, I have found that newer cameras have a greater dynamic range than older cameras, so if your camera is 10-years old, my bet is it's below 12 on the EV scale here.

Class Materials

Free Download

Fundamentals of Photography Outline

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Learning Project Videos
Learning Projects PDF
Slides for The Camera Lessons 1-13
Slides for The Sensor Lessons 14-18
Slides for The Lens Lessons 19-31
Slides for The Exposure Lessons 32-42
Slides for Focus Lessons 43-62
Slides for The Gadget Bag Lessons 63-72
Slides for Light Lesson 73-84
Slides for the Art of Edit Lessons 85-93
Slides for Composition Lesson 94-105
Slides for Photographic Vision Lessons 106-113

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

Love love all John Greengo classes! Wish to have had him decades ago with this info, but no internet then!! John is the greatest photography teacher I have seen out there, and I watch a lot of Creative Live classes and folks on YouTube too. John is so detailed and there are a ton of ah ha moments for me and I know lots of others. I think I own 4 John Greengo classes so far and want to add this one and Travel Photography!! I just drop everything to watch John on Creative Live. I wish sometime soon he would teach a Lightroom class and his knowledge on photography post editing.!!! That would probably take a LOT OF TIME but I know John would explain it soooooo good, like he does all his Photography classes!! Thank you Creative Live for having such a wonderful instructor with John Greengo!! Make more classes John, for just love them and soak it up! There is soooo much to learn and sometimes just so overwhelming. Is there anyway you might do a Motivation class!!?? Like do this button for this day, and try this technique for a week, or post this subject for this week, etc. Motivation and inspiration, and playing around with what you teach, needed so much and would be so fun.!! Just saying??? Awaiting gadgets class now, while waiting for lunch break to be over. All the filters and gadgets, oh my. Thank you thank you for all you teach John, You are truly a wonderful wonderful instructor and I would highly recommend folks listening and buying your classes.

Eve
 

I don't think that adjectives like beautiful, fantastic or excellent can describe the course and classes with John Greengo well enough. I've just bought my first camera and I am a total amateur but I fell in love with photography while watching the classes with John. It is fun, clear, understandable, entertaining, informative and and and. He is not only a fabulous photographer but a great teacher as well. Easy to follow, clear explanations and fantastic visuals. The only disadvantage I can list here that he is sooooo good that keeps me from going out to shoot as I am just glued to the screen. :-) Don't miss it and well worth the money invested! Thank you John!

Vlad Chiriacescu
 

Wow! John is THE best teacher I have ever had the pleasure of learning from, and this is the most comprehensive, eloquent and fun course I have ever taken (online or off). If you're even / / interested in photography, take this course as soon as possible! You might find out that taking great photos requires much more work than you're willing to invest, or you might get so excited learning from John that you'll start taking your camera with you EVERYWHERE. At the very least, you'll learn the fundamental inner workings and techniques that WILL help you get a better photo. Worried about the cost? Well, I've taken courses that are twice as expensive that offer less than maybe a tenth of the value. You'll be much better off investing in this course than a new camera or a new lens. I cannot reccomend John and this course enough!

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