Focus Program Meeting – Presentation by Glenn Randall on Mastering Dramatic Light

Many of the most dramatic landscape photographs are taken in “high-voltage” light, with sunrise or sunset light stabbing through clouds and brilliantly spotlighting a distant peak or sandstone tower, leaving the equally important foreground in deep shadow.

Capturing a full range of tones in such high-contrast situations, and reproducing them in a way our visual system considers natural, has challenged landscape photographers ever since photography was invented over 150 years ago.

High-contrast scenes are difficult to photograph because of differences between our complex visual system and a camera’s sensor. Our eyes can see a range of light intensities, from brightest highlight to darkest shadow, of about 10,000 to 1, but even good sensors can only capture a much smaller range, perhaps 500 to 1, and a print can only exhibit a range of about 50 to 1.

Glenn Randall’s lecture will tackle this fundamental problem in a variety of ways. At the end of his presentation, you’ll know how to photograph landscapes successfully in any kind of light.