Is it true?


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night86mare

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I read somewhere that the human eye tends to see details in shadows better, and from personal experience with MY pair of eyes it seems to be so.

I'm thinking though; if that is true, won't it make extreme silhouettes, i.e. entirely black, entirely unnatural?

So for a picture to be natural, at least some detail should be seen in the silhouette? :dunno:
 

I read somewhere that the human eye tends to see details in shadows better, and from personal experience with MY pair of eyes it seems to be so.
yes

I'm thinking though; if that is true, won't it make extreme silhouettes, i.e. entirely black, entirely unnatural?
only at certain condition, like no light lighted from the front, eg, you are in dark room and seeing a person back lighted thru a open door

So for a picture to be natural, at least some detail should be seen in the silhouette?
yes, but will not that appealing as photographically.
 

I read somewhere that the human eye tends to see details in shadows better, and from personal experience with MY pair of eyes it seems to be so.
yes

I'm thinking though; if that is true, won't it make extreme silhouettes, i.e. entirely black, entirely unnatural?
only at certain condition, like no light lighted from the front, eg, you are in dark room and seeing a person back lighted thru a open door

So for a picture to be natural, at least some detail should be seen in the silhouette?
yes, but will not that appealing as photographically.

...So in accordance with my photographic fetishes,

Entire silhouettes (i.e. all black) with the sunset as a background would be perfectly alright? I'm struggling to think of a time when I saw a silhouette of a person against the sunset but it seems like most of the time the places I go to, no one goes. =(

Thanks for your reply, very much appreciated.
 

Human eyes have higher dynamic range then the film and sensor on camera.....so if you want to be really natural, then HDR may be closer to what you want in most cases....

I read somewhere that the human eye tends to see details in shadows better, and from personal experience with MY pair of eyes it seems to be so.

I'm thinking though; if that is true, won't it make extreme silhouettes, i.e. entirely black, entirely unnatural?

So for a picture to be natural, at least some detail should be seen in the silhouette? :dunno:
 

I think those pics that people love are mostly special pic that is not what our eyes see daily....like sunset, you cannot look at the sun (except sunset/rise in some days) with naked eye, thats why sunset pic is very attractive to many. And pic taken at extreme low/high angle, where no one will see the world in such angles, are very popular too....so I think photography doesn't need to be exactly the same as what people see everyday....that's my tot...but each to his own lah.:)

night86mare said:
3295050Entire silhouettes (i.e. all black) with the sunset as a background would be perfectly alright? I'm struggling to think of a time when I saw a silhouette of a person against the sunset but it seems like most of the time the places I go to, no one goes. =(
 

I remembered recently I read this article by KRW.
It's interesting that our eyes see only small patches at one time but it's our brain that actually stitches all these patches together and does the "HDR" stuff.
 

That's what I want to make sure, have never really taken something like that, I think.

I might have, but it didn't leave an impression on me, anyways, and I've been seeing a lot of silhouette sunset photos on Flickr, so asking. :)
 

Human eyes have higher dynamic range then the film and sensor on camera.....so if you want to be really natural, then HDR may be closer to what you want in most cases....

I think those pics that people love are mostly special pic that is not what our eyes see daily....like sunset, you cannot look at the sun (except sunset/rise in some days) with naked eye, thats why sunset pic is very attractive to many. And pic taken at extreme low/high angle, where no one will see the world in such angles, are very popular too....so I think photography doesn't need to be exactly the same as what people see everyday....that's my tot...but each to his own lah.:)

Hrm, from what I see, depending on your HDR blending technique, HDR photos would still slant towards the unrealistic side, but it can be controlled I guess, I'm trying hard to achieve a realistic effect in Photomatix, too lazy to use Layers in PS to blend pictures, very ley chey.

That's true, on Flickr the really fresh ideas are the ones which are popular, not those common everyday life scenes, unless there is a fresh take on it in the first place. What I'm concerned about is realistic photography though, if not just abuse Shadows/Highlights to introduce haloing galore in landscapes would be a fresh take too, hahaha. =D
 

I remembered recently I read this article by KRW.
It's interesting that our eyes see only small patches at one time but it's our brain that actually stitches all these patches together and does the "HDR" stuff.

Very interesting article, thanks for sharing.

Must try walking around in the dark sometime, I mean not that I haven't, but I didn't notice the "grain", hehe.
 

That's what I want to make sure, have never really taken something like that, I think.

I might have, but it didn't leave an impression on me, anyways, and I've been seeing a lot of silhouette sunset photos on Flickr, so asking. :)

P1220674-e-c-r640.jpg

from here.

not exactly a good example, but have fun!
 

not exactly a good example, but have fun!

Hahaha, how come your camera selling thread become APAD? :bsmilie:

Hope this is alright, I took this from smgallery on flickr, one of my contacts there, just for purpose for illustration, if it's not ok just let me know I will take it down. Of course he won't know, but er. Never mind.

1035087745_137254e8a6.jpg


To be found here.

There, got enough credit or not? =( In any case, is that silhouette natural enough for you? I do not find it natural looking, but the effect works for me, of course the fact that the silhouette blends with the horizon is.. Not so good but eh, you can't have everything I guess.
 

The human eye has an iris that "meters" the scene in real time. So when you focus in the shadow, you're not really seeing detail in the bright areas. Problem is that photos are as-is, so when you should normally be able to see detail in the shadows, you cannot since the iris doesn't change the properties of the photo. That's probably why I tend to look really awful in photos. heh
 

The human eye has an iris that "meters" the scene in real time. So when you focus in the shadow, you're not really seeing detail in the bright areas. Problem is that photos are as-is, so when you should normally be able to see detail in the shadows, you cannot since the iris doesn't change the properties of the photo. That's probably why I tend to look really awful in photos. heh

Ok OT abit ... cannot really compare head on the eye with the camera but i would think -
Iris should be like the blades of the diaphragm, controlling the
the human pupil - > the lens aperture,
the meter would be the whole complex from your retina relaying info via the optic nerve to the brain that effects the necessary ( aperture / pupil ) changes. ( In addition to the really complicated *photoshop* function that it ( brain ) performs )

ryan
 

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