dynamic range

Point your camera towards the harsh Highveld summer sun and the result can be a frame washed out with haze, dotted with coloured shapes or split between pure white and solid black. If you are new to photography, it is easy to assume something is wrong with your camera. In most cases, though, these effects are not faults at all but natural results of how lenses and sensors handle light. This guide explains what causes lens flare, ghosting and related effects, how to control them and how to use them to your advantage.

A photograph that uses ghosting creatively

Lens flare and other effects that change image quality

The way cameras and lenses handle light can produce effects you did not intend. The most common are:

•        Lens flare, where strong light washes out the image and lowers contrast

•        Ghosting, where rings, ovals or aperture-shaped spots of light appear in the frame

•        Vignetting, where the corners of the image turn darker than the centre

•        Blown-out

Light in South Africa is unforgiving. At altitude on the Highveld, under a clear summer sky at midday, the gap between the brightest and darkest parts of a scene can be enormous, far wider than what a camera records in a single frame. The result is familiar: a sky that goes white, a subject that goes black, or both at once. Understanding dynamic range is what separates a photographer who works around those conditions from one who is defeated by them. This article explains what dynamic range is, how it is measured, and how to get the most out of yours.

What is dynamic range in a camera?

Dynamic range is the span of brightness a camera can record in one exposure, from the darkest tone that still holds detail through to the brightest tone that has not turned to pure white.

Your eyes are far better at this than any sensor. Human vision adapts continuously, the iris adjusting while the brain merges information gathered across those adjustments, so you can stand on a shaded stoep and read detail