to clarify my comment about exposure range and how it is different to HDR.
For those who keep their minds pure and don't know anything about digital yet want to wade into the discussion down at the pub:
HDR is a process of taking anywhere between 5 and 25 (or more
) images all at ever increasing units of exposure, generally starting as low as the cmaera will let you working up to the top, the "purist" will start at -5 ev and work up to +5 ev at third stop intervals. Then they fire up their post production image software find the "High Dynamic Range" plug in, select the folder with the 4 million exposures and then hit "GO!" and then the computer does the rest and they smile at how clever they are.
Someone using a more traditional method will consider their image, think about where detail is important, then take 1,2 or 3 exposures as required. To get detail in the highlights and detail in the shadows you need only take 3 exposures max. Open up your darkroom or post prod software and then go work some magic to get the detail to come out where you want it. The process is massively different.
The link is to the Luminous Landscape and is run by Michael Reichman who has been very generous to me in letting me publish some of his understanding series for students over the years. The link is to Understanding Histograms and there is a nice example of a high and low light detail image in the explanation.
Understanding HistogramsBTW have you got a bloody frame for that contact sheet yet, we have been standing around talking about everything while waiting
