TABLE OF CONTENTS Contrary to popular opinion, what you see is not always what you get. You may be able to see the detail in those dark shadows and bright highlights when the sun is shining but can your image sensor? Contrast in a scene is often a photographer s worst enemy. Contrast is a sneak thief that steals away the detail in the highlights or shadows (sometimes both).
Wedding photographers will deal with the problem of contrast by using fill flash to lower the subject contrast; commercial photographers diffuse their own light source or use additional fill lighting and check for missing detail using the Histogram or a Polaroid. Landscape photographers, however, have drawn the short straw when it comes to solving the contrast problem. For the landscape photographer there is no quick fix . A reflector that can fill the shadows of the Grand Canyon has yet to be made and diffusing the sun s light is only going to happen if the clouds are prepared to play ball.
The first technique the photographer can use to combat extreme subject contrast utilizes the flexibility of the Camera Raw format (an image format that can be selected in most high-end digicams and all DSLR cameras). If you are able to capture in Raw mode you will be able to exploit the full dynamic range that your image sensor is capable of. Choosing the JPEG format in your camera...
