Tonal Range and Detail

One of the many mantras that the novice photographer hears is "don't blow the highlights and don't block the shadows. It is taken as a given and rarely is there any explanation as to why these two events should not happen. We are told that 'specular' highlights can be blown (by definition it is inevitable) but there should always be some detail in the darkest elements of our images. Perhaps we should be asking why. Is there some immutable rule that allows us to say that the presence either of the two no-no's must result in a 'bad' photograph. Clearly this is nonsense and is a relatively recent judgement of what is 'good' and what is 'bad'. Early photographers knew that their skies would be featureless because of the nature of the materials they had available to them. Equally the tonal range would be limited and they were faced with  deciding whether to expose for the highlights or the shadows. The decision made was personal to the individual.

With modern photographic equipment we are no longer faced with this problem and many cameras now have the facility for the automatic bracketing of exposure to achieve the best possible image. Added to this is the power of software that helps to produce the maximum tonal range available from the shot. I would suggest that therein lies the problem.  The number of decisions becomes less but the result is a uniformity that does not necessarily produce the most 'pleasing' image. What is meant by 'pleasing' is the result that the individual photographer desires. The only boundaries should be his or her judgement of how his audience will react. There are but two people in any judgment of the worth of a photograph and that is the photographer and the viewer. Of course the viewer may well be many people throughout the career of a photograph but at any one moment in time it will be a single individual. The photographer wishes to maximise the impact of the image and whilst cognisant of the 'rules' should be more than happy to ignore them. The graphic contrast between the white featureless areas balanced by the black areas lacking detail can create a tension that demands a response from the viewer - including wondering what, if anything was in those areas.