How to INSTANTLY Boost the Dynamic Range of Your Photos (VIDEO)
Dynamic range is a key concept in photography that’s important to understand if your goal is to create properly balanced images. This quick from James Feaver provides a couple straightforward secrets for precisely adjusting this essential component of every great shot.
Feaver is a freelance photographer and educator who says he loves helping beginning shooters find their way and elevate their skills. He describes today’s topic like this: “You want to make sure that your photo has just the right amount of dynamic range. Not enough and the photo will appear flat, while too much and the image looks like an over-cooked HDR.”
In Feaver’s words, “dynamic range just refers to how many stops of light your camera can capture and this variable differs from one model to another.” Another key consideration is the file format you use because Raw photos capture more dynamic range than Jpegs. Another key benefit of shooting in Raw is the control you have for manipulating dynamic range with precision.
Feaver’s demonstration shot is a prime example of the challenge at hand. It’s a nicely composed landscape scene with a very bright sky, majestic mountains looming in the distance, and a foreground that so dark you can barely make out trees. In other words, a broad range of tones in different important areas within the frame.
He opens Lightroom and gets to work by evaluating the histogram and determining where dynamic range needs to be expanded. He then demonstrates a few simple techniques for creating an ideal balance of tones.
His first trick involves an attribute called “clipping—something you definitely want to avoid. Feaver explains that clipping occurs “when we overdo dynamic range and push things thing too far.” Then he illustrates a more thoughtful approach, using basic Lightroom tools in the correct order, to achieve natural-looking enhancements.
The lesson then turns to a step-by-step discussion of how simple masking techniques factor into the equation, along with a few additional tips for refining your dynamic range adjustments. Be sure to visit the popular Photo Feaver YouTube channel for more shooting and editing advice.
We also suggest watching the quick primer we featured earlier with another post-processing expert who presents a two-minute beginners guide to Photoshop’s versatile Pen tool for enhancing your photographs with precise masks, accurate selections, custom shapes and more.
