HDR Photography

Mon 26 May 2025

Estimates for the dynamic range (the maximum perceivable contrast between light and dark) of human eyes vary depending on the source, from 1:100 to 1:1000 or more for static contrast. Dynamic contrast, where the eye moves around the scene and the iris adjusts in size is many orders of magnitude larger - with sufficient adaption time we can switch between bright daylight (${10}^{8}cd/m^2$) and faint starlight (${10}^{-6}cd/m^2$), a range of ${10}^{14}$!

In comparison, standard computer screens display images encoded using 8-bit color channels, for a maximum of 256 brightness levels. This is why photos of very vivid ...