OCA – Digital Photographic Practice
Project 2: Digital Image Qualities – Exercise 8: Camera Dynamic Range
The purpose of this exercise was to find the dynamic range of your particular camera.
Apparently this information is not provided by the camera manufacturer, so finding the
brightest and darkest areas on a photograph can assist in working out the dynamic
range of your camera.
I used a photograph taken within my own home, in a conservatory with sunlight shining
partly through on to a white table. A black iPod docking station was also present on
the white table.
The equipment chosen was a Nikon D300 camera, with a 50mm Nikon lens, shooting
in manual mode and using a manfrotto tripod.
Photograph 1 – Original Scene
The photograph above was taken with an ISO of 100 and with an aperture of f 5.6.
On this photograph there is one main area of brightness where the sunlight is hitting
the white table to the right of the magazine title. The RGB value of this area was 255,
255, 255, which is a bright as it could have been.
The darkest area was on the iPod docking station near the base, this being 0, 1, 4.
Photograph 2 – Original Scene with Shutter Speeds Included
The exposure range on the above photograph went from 1/25s to 1/800s and
these are used to work out the dynamic range.
A dynamic range of 5 can be assumed to be correct, although I would believe this
to be slightly higher on my D300 at around 6 or 7 stops.
This exercise has been a really interesting one for me and has provided me with a
different viewpoint on how to take a photograph. The lower the ISO setting the
less noise and I now know that that should result in a higher dynamic range.
OCA – Digital Photographic Practice
Project 2: Digital Image Qualities – Exercise 9: Scene Dynamic Range
The purpose of this exercise was to measure the dynamic range of a variety of scenes.
This is a follow on from exercise 8 and I had to measure the brightest and darkest areas
within the scene.
I took a variety of photographs on Hampton, Peterborough and used a Nikon D300
camera, with a 18-200mm Nikon lens, shooting in manual mode.
Photograph 1 – Dynamic Range 200/800
Photograph 1 appears flat and has a low dynamic range of two stops.
Photograph 2 – Dynamic Range 160/1600
Photograph 3 – Dynamic Range 6/200
The dynamic range on this particular photograph has increased from the first two
and is now five stops.
Photograph 4 – Dynamic Range 6/400
Photograph 5 – Dynamic Range 20/8000
Photograph 5 has a very high dynamic range due to a high bright spot of the sun
and a shadow area in the bottom right hand corner of the scene. This has resulted
in a dynamic range of approximately eight stops.
This exercise has followed on from exercise eight and has provided me again with
a different viewpoint on how to take a photograph. Photograph one was the biggest
surprise as it only had a dynamic range of two stops, I would of thought this to be
higher before starting the last two exercises.
OCA – Digital Photographic Practice
Project 2: Digital image qualities – Exercise 10: Colour cast and white balance
The purpose of this exercise was to at first fully understand the procedure for altering the
white balance on your camera.
Then the following outdoor lighting situations needed to be found;
- Sunlight
- Cloudy
- Open shade on a sunny day
Four photographs were then taken using the white balance options above and in addition
the auto option. I visited Cambridge Botanical Gardens and used a Nikon D300 camera,
with an 18-200mm Nikon lens, shooting in manual mode.
Sunlight - SUNNY
Sunlight - CLOUDY
Sunlight – SHADE / SUNNY
Sunlight – AUTO
The photographs taken in bright sunlight have a distinct pair in the sunny and auto
results. The shady white balance option has resulted in a poor colour cast and over
compensated whites.
Cloudy - SUNNY
Cloudy – CLOUDY
Cloudy – SHADE
Cloudy – AUTO
Open shade on sunny day - SUNNY
Open shade on sunny day - CLOUDY
Open shade on sunny day - SHADE
Open shade on sunny day - AUTO
The different white balance settings above are also similar to the first versions shot in
sunny conditions. There is not so much of a colour cast on the shade setting and the
sunlight and auto settings give a slightly warmer tone to the photograph.
I completed the second part of this exercise and concluded that the white balance
settings do not help to produce and overall acceptable image, but either gives a blue or
orange tint.
This exercise has provided me again with a different viewpoint on how to take a
photograph. Knowing when to use the appropriate white balance is very important and
I will practise this some more of the next few months and look to see if there are any
changes during the winter, later this year.
