errantember

Normal pictures can only show about 7 EV (levels) of difference between the darkest and brightest part of a picture. This can make it hard to photograph things like a mountain sunset, since the sun is very bright but everything else is more than 7 EV away in the dark. By taking several pictures at different shutter speeds and combining them mathematically, it's possible to get a final picture where both the sun and the mountains are visibly exposed. This technique is called High Dynamic Range photography. The upper-left picture is the final result, while the other three show the range of exposures taken for reference. Notice that both the highlights of the darkest and shadows of the brightest originals are all present in the finished product. This picture shows details from over an 11 EV range squashed down to fit onto a normal computer monitor, which can only display about 1/2 of that dynamic range.

Thanks to Ryan Hayes for turning me onto this.