Summertime is travel time and therefore also boom time for nature and travel photography. But who doesn't know this: the beautiful idyllic old town alley is either partly lost in shadow or the sky and the roofs are overexposed when you look at it at home. For many amateur photographers, and this happens to some extent also to experienced photographers, this is a disappointment, because the shot does not correspond in any way to what was seen.
But how do you get particularly high-contrast motifs with a contrast range of approx. Get a grip on 14-15 f-stops?
Many subjects in travel and landscape photography have a strong contrast. Our eye can compensate high contrasts to a certain extent by adaptation. The contrast range (= dynamic range) of a digital camera's image sensor is very limited, just like the dynamic range of monitors, photographic paper or printed matter. A contrast range of the motif of approx. 8-9 f-stops can be displayed without problems. For an experienced photographer, who exposes exactly and possibly uses a calibrated monitor, a contrast range of 10-11 f-stops should not be too big a problem. But how do you get particularly high-contrast subjects with a contrast range of approx. 14-15 f-stops under control? There are many of these "problem subjects" in travel photography: Backlight shots, but also motifs such as idyllic sunsets at the sea or landscapes in the high mountains have high contrasts.