Exposure Blending - Part 1

I selected this scene because it was difficult. Not because I had to step from rock to rock with camera around neck and tripod across back to get to the other side of this creek. But because the dynamic range of lighting far exceeds what any photographic medium can handle, including film. Plus I wanted the reflections. And it’s a bit of a mind bender. How deep you think that water is?

In the old days I would have used Ansel Adams zone system technique. Yes, most if not all of Ansel Adams’ famous B&Ws where not straight from the camera to print, but in fact where the result of a system whereby dynamic range of lighting of a scene was either compressed or stretched with a combination of negative exposure and development times.

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The photo above is the result of several exposures combined to preserve the details in both the low light and high light areas. The shots below show the dilemma one faces when trying to capture details in either the low light or high light sections with a single exposure. Unlike that wonderful combination of the human eye and brain, the camera cannot capture detail on one end of the luminosity without loosing it on the other end. No photo processing software can do anything about empty or overflowing photon buckets.

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