Shot in Istanbul in May, 2013.

Today’s photo is another from Istanbul.

Did you know our cameras can only see about 1% of the light information our eyes can gather? It sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. Look at this recent picture from Chicago: the sky behind the Trump Tower (center) is totally blown out, yet the building on the left is completely black with no details to speak of. This is what my camera saw. I, on the other hand, was able to see the building and the sky. Not to brag or anything.

I can show you why this happens, but I need to throw some numbers at you. These numbers matter because they explain why our eyes can see details in both the sky and ground on a bright day, while cameras disappoint with only a boring, washed out sky.

If you’re the trusting type and would rather just take my word for it, you can skip the numbers and head straight to the good stuff.

The numbers

Exposure Values are a measurement of dynamic range, the difference between the darkest darks and the brightest brights. Exposure Values, or EVs, are exponential – each increase represents a doubling of light. If I move from 10 EVs to 11 , I’ve doubled the light. Move from 5 EVs to 4, and the light’s been cut in half.

Our cameras can see through a range of about 12 EVs. That means they can see things that are 4000 times brighter than the darkest things they can see. Not too shabby, until you realize our eyes can effectively see things that are a whopping million times brighter than the darkest things, a massive 20 EV range. We’re able to see so much because our eyes are constantly, involuntarily readjusting. This allows our brains to form a more complete picture of whatever it is we’re looking at. Without resorting to HDR, you get just one picture with a camera so you’d better make it count.

The good stuff: How to take quality pictures anyway

While it’s true that our cameras can’t see nearly as much as our eyes, the good news is they often don’t need to. Many scenes have a brightness range that falls well within our camera’s ability to record it.

There are four ways to solve the problem when our cameras can’t see everything:

Method 1: Just take the damn picture already!
Bright things are supposed to be bright, and dark things are supposed to be dark. You can always take the picture anyways, knowing that you’ll never be able to squeeze every ounce of detail in post processing. Use this method when your brights and darks aren’t integral to the image (like a bright window or a dark shadow) or when you’re going for a contrasty look.

I just took the damn picture in Barcelona

Above is a shot I took in 2010 in Barcelona Airport. My camera wasn’t able to see the wide range of brights and darks, and as a result it’s easy to see the lack of color in the sky and the lack of details in the shaded chairs. The shot is meant to be moody, though, and the high contrast adds to the feeling. It’s not always necessary to capture every last detail.

Method 2: Wait for better light.
Demanding scenes are always the result of light that’s too harsh. Wait for evening or shoot at sunrise. Cloudy days can be good too because they offer diffuse light that won’t overpower your camera.

Wait for the the light… it often gets better

Here’s a shot I took in Prague in June last year. I knew I’d get a good picture from that vantage point, but the light was poor because the sky was too bright and the ground was too dark. The exposure would have been unbalanced, so I waited for the sky to dim as the sun set and took this shot instead.

Method 3: Use a graduated ND filter
Graduated neutral density filters fit over your lens. They’re shaded on one end, the other end is clear, and there’s a smooth transition between the light and dark areas. When you shoot a scene with a graduated ND, you’ll rotate the filter so the dark area is over the brightest part of the image. This helps balance what your sensor sees, allowing your camera to record more of the information. Graduated ND filters are expensive and a bit of a chore, so I rarely use them.

A graduated ND filter was used in the shot above of Chicago, USA. Typically ND filters are used with the dark part on top to balance a bright sky against a dark foreground, but in this case I put the dark part on the bottom to cover the bright city. This helped balance the exposure, allowing the stars and airplane lights to shine through.

Method 4: Use HDR.
HDR works by blending multiple exposures together. It artificially and dramatically increases your camera’s light gathering ability, but it’s not convenient because it requires a tripod for best results. It’s very popular these days, but HDR is rarely my first choice because the finished images tend to look fake. It also works poorly in scenes with moving subjects like people. If I use HDR at all, it’s done sparingly so I can bring back some details and add a bit of pop.

HDR in Russia

HDR was used in the above picture from Lake Baikal in Russia – it was the only way I could get details in the bright ice to balance against the relatively dark background.

So help your camera out…

Use these four easy methods to help your camera see, and you’ll be taking better travel pictures in no time!

Shot in Goa India last year.

I’ve always liked Flickr, although lately I had admittedly been looking at it like an old used up friend. It’s not the most fun to be around, and it’s certainly not new and interesting. It just kind of sits there, passively waiting for attention but never desperate for it.

And like an old friend, it’s been around for ages – back when many of us had Geocities websites and were wasting time on Myspace, we were just getting into this new thing called Flickr. It didn’t take long for shiny new websites to compete for our attention too, and the likes of Photobucket, Google+, and 500px stole photographers away. But like an old friend, Flickr was always there.

And then, recently, Flickr came out with a rock solid App that was extremely well received. It gave us hope that Flickr had potential. And as of today, that potential has been realized. Flickr is brand new. Again.

So what’s so good about it?

Most noticeable to long time Flickr users is the totally new look. Gone are the single, low res images and mostly negative space that filled the photostreams of old. As of right now, users’ photostreams are vivid, vibrant, and alive. The focus is now entirely on the photos (as it should be), with photostreams being displayed as the name implies – free flowing, streaming photos of the photographer’s complete work. The look is entirely new, and it’s entirely welcome. It’s what photo sharing should have looked like all along. But hey, better late than never!

The new Flickr gives us a full Terabyte of space to use for uploading an insane number of ultra-high resolution photos. Medium format and D800 shooters rejoice, your 36+ megapixel shots finally have a home!

Flickr gives us the same social sharing tools: groups, sets, forums, and communities. These have been around a while, but it’s now all easily accessible from the home page.

Now’s the time

Many of us always knew Flickr would come around, but a dwindling number had the patience to play the wait-and-see game. Today the wait is over, and I’m happy to say I’ve seen Flickr grow up. If you haven’t tried it yet, now’s most definitely the time. Like all sharing based sites, the more users Flickr sees the better a website it will be for us all!

View my Flickr stream

Today’s photo is from Tokyo, Japan. A biker rides along the road as the sun sets.

Shot in Istanbul earlier this month.

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Shot from the top of beautiful Hallgrímskirkja Church in Iceland.

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Shot from my trip to Chile and Argentina last year.

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I like this shot, it’s sort of eerie and it’s a nice visual transition from pure black to pure white in a single frame. Normally I’d go black and white for something like this, but I liked the muted colors. It’s as though something’s being withheld (maybe the daylight?)

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