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extract the ultimate in contrast and tonal scale from a negative by means of
selective processing and printing to control highlights and shadow detail. He
experimented with large-format cameras, including a Deardorff 5x7 field/view
camera, but as you might expect from a mind nimble in both technology and
creativity, he was an early and eager convert to digital photography.
Instead of underexposing and overdeveloping, or employing any of the
other myriad tricks of the analog age, Myhrvold embraces what modern
cameras and computers can do with an image. He speaks to the challenges
of dynamic range in his typical analytical way: “Dynamic range is the term
for the difference between the lightest part of the picture and the darkest.
A typical outdoor scene may have a ratio of light to dark of 4,000:1 — the
bright parts are 4,000 times brighter than the dark parts, but scenes can
easily go higher than that, up to 1,000,000: 1 if you have a dark shadow in
one corner and the sun itself in another. Human eyes have an automatic
system that compensates for this, allowing us to see both bright highlights
and dark shadows simultaneously. Not so with cameras. Analog color film
typically has a dynamic range of 32:1, or five f-stops (one f-stop difference is
a factor of two in illumination). Digital cameras are a little bit better at about
six to maybe seven f-stops, or 64:1 to 128:1, or maybe a little more. A lot of
the problem of picture taking is how to stuff 4,000:1 dynamic range into the
much smaller range of the sensor.” That is the kind of background noise that
passes through his amazingly active mind with every click of the shutter.
His immersion in scuba diving came a bit later. The inspiration was that of so
silver
cinema of dreams
800-451-3737
SEACAM
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NIKON D4
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NIKON D800
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CANON EOS 1D X
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CANON EOS 5D MKIII
New housings out now!
Shrimp on soft coral, Raja Ampat
Nathan Myhrvold
