Nature Photography How To

Dynamic range is one aspect of nature and wildlife photography that many photographers fail to grasp, and it has a big impact on just about every image you shoot. Today's tutorial from the Birdman Photography YouTube channel demystifies the concept and explains why "you don't need a Master's degree in the subject to understand it."

Instructor Sean Leahy is an accomplished pro based in North Carolina who specializes in photographing birds, and he posts weekly tutorials on the subject. This episode covers the practical implications of dynamic range in a way that makes sense for wildlife shooters, landscape photographer, and others who when shoot in the field.

Unlike other videos we've posted on the technical aspects of dynamic range, Leahy's behind-the-scenes episode concentrates on the how rather than the why—without all the theoretical details getting in the way. He pulls up a landscape scene with a dark foreground and bright sky to demonstrate how it work.

With this photo in mind Leahy explains the basics like this: "Dynamic range is the ability of a camera to record detail in the clouds as well as details in the dark mountains looming underneath." When it comes to his second example of a chickadee perched on a branch, a high level of dynamic range is necessary to capture the bird's various tones that range from black, white, gray, brown, and everything in between.

Thus, one key specification when purchasing a camera is the level of dynamic range it provides, and the difference between various models can be very significant when attempting to balance out all the tones in a scene—especially if your goal is to get the shot right in the camera.

But what can you do if your camera falls short with regard to this key specification? That's when it's time to fix things during the image-editing process. All that's necessary to learn how that's done is watch the tutorial we featured earlier with a post-processing expert who demonstrates  a straightforward Lightroom technique for increasing the dynamic range of imbalanced photographs. And it takes him barely five minutes to explain.

There's much more to learn on Leahy's instructional YouTube channel, especially if wildlife photography is your thing. So be sure pay a visit and explore what's available.