Professional Documents
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Prof. Wolf
“Dynamic range”
A ratio of “bright to dark”
For an image:
The numerical ratio between the lightest and the darkest pixel
(exclude outliers)
For a display (like a monitor):
The ratio of maximum to minimum luminance the screen is capable of
(luminance = perceived brightness : physics + biology)
For a camera:
The ratio of the luminance that saturates the (digital) sensor and the
luminance that takes you a bit above the noise.
Conventional images offer a dynamic range of about
100.
Consistent with defining each pixel by red, green, blue values of 0–255
in digital imaging.
Not enough for many scenes because…
1
No, LCDs aren’t much better.
2
Nor printed paper – it can’t glow.
Conventional displays can only show “low dynamic range” (LDR)
images.
LDR images may not “satisfy”… Tones aren’t faithful, not a lot of
contrast (dimmest things disappear, brightest things “flare”).
Single photos can’t capture all we want to capture. Each exposure in a
series of “bracketed” exposure may do a better job, locally.
Ok overall, but sky is
blah, and much detail
lost in shadow.
NORMALLY
OVEREXPOS
Nice detail on
building
Pretty
UNDEREXPOS sky
UNDEREXPO
HDR Imaging
We can imagine that a computer might be persuaded to process
multiple images, combine the best parts, and then store more
information (dynamic range) than was in a single photo.
We’d need more than 0-255 values of R, G and B values at each pixel
in a file to hold a scene with increased dynamic range. Such a file is
called a “radiance map.”
BUT that file can’t be displayed on a monitor, a piece of (photo)
A radiance map
paper, or any other typical output device, and yield something better
displayed directly on
than an LDR result! It’s the fault of the output medium.
an LDR device looks
Washed out worse than the
sky images it was made
from (see left).
But it isn’t intended
for display directly.
No detail
in
buildings
So we “tone map” (dynamic range reduction).
LDRs
HDR
LDR (but
better)
HDR images have an “Ansel Adams” look. But his “zone system”
(which used one exposure) only worked for black and white
photography. HDR exploits ‘all’ colors.
Pure black is
somewhere in each
photo.
So is pure white.
So are most/all of the
tones in between.
Wikipedia: “The Zone System
gained an early reputation for
being complex, difficult to
understand, and impractical
to apply to real-life shooting
Ansel Adams, Grand Teton National
Park, 1942
(Black and white film captures 10,000:1, but “flare” (around the sun, or a
bright light) hurts you at the upper end. Your B&W or color print is ultimately
about 100:1. Paper doesn’t glow.)
* A spectroradiometer ($5,000) pointed at your printer or monitor reveals poor
color consistency.