Real-world examples of dynamic range in landscape photography

If you’re looking for the clearest examples of dynamic range in landscape photography, start with sunrise and sunset. They’re dramatic, beautiful, and brutally unforgiving on your sensor.

Picture this: you’re on a beach at sunrise. The sky near the sun is blazing bright, the water is moderately lit, and the rocks in the foreground are still in deep shadow. Your eyes see detail everywhere. Your camera sees a tough choice:

• Expose for the sky, and the rocks turn into a black silhouette.
• Expose for the rocks, and the sky blows out into a white, detail-free blob.

That gap between dark rocks and bright sky is dynamic range in action. A modern camera sensor (check out DXOMark’s sensor tests at dxomark.com) might handle around 12–15 stops of dynamic range at base ISO, which is impressive compared to older cameras, but still nowhere near your eyes.

Real examples include:

• A fiery orange sunset where the sun sits just above the horizon and the foreground cliffs are almost black.
• A mountain lake at dawn where the sky is soft pastel but the trees along the shore are still deeply shaded.

In both cases, you’re wrestling with the same problem: how to squeeze a huge brightness range into a single exposure without losing the mood.

How photographers handle this classic example of extreme light

For this kind of scene, landscape photographers often:

• Expose for the highlights so the sky keeps its color and detail, then lift shadows in editing.
• Bracket exposures (one for the sky, one for the midtones, one for the shadows) and blend them later.
• Use graduated neutral density filters to darken just the sky and compress the dynamic range in-camera.

These sunrise and sunset situations are some of the best examples of dynamic range challenges because they’re so common and so visually dramatic.

Deep forest trails: subtle examples of dynamic range in landscape photography

Not all high dynamic range scenes are flashy. Some are sneaky.

Imagine hiking a dense forest trail at midday. The forest floor is dim and green, but shafts of sunlight punch through the canopy, hitting leaves and rocks with intense brightness. Your camera sensor now has to deal with:

• Very dark shadows under logs and foliage.
• Midtones on the trail itself.
• Harsh, almost white highlights where the sun hits.

This is another real example of dynamic range in landscape photography that trips people up. You might think, “It’s just shade, it shouldn’t be that bad,” but when you check the histogram, you’ll often see data smashed against both the left and right sides.

Examples include:

• A mossy, shaded creek with bright reflections of the sky in the water.
• A narrow canyon or slot where the top is brilliantly lit and the bottom is nearly black.

Here, the trick is often to protect the highlights from clipping (especially those bright sun patches or reflections) and accept that you’ll need to lift shadows in post. Modern raw files can handle a surprising amount of shadow recovery, as long as you keep your ISO low to reduce noise. Many camera manufacturers and photography educators (like tutorials from major universities such as Harvard’s digital photography resources) emphasize this highlight-protection approach because once highlights are blown, they’re gone for good.

Snowy mountains and beaches: bright scenes with hidden range

Snowfields and bright sandy beaches look simple, but they’re sneaky examples of dynamic range in landscape photography. Everything looks bright, so you might assume the dynamic range is low. The problem is that within that brightness, there’s often a big spread:

• Sparkling snow or surf foam catching direct sun.
• Midtone snow that’s facing away from the sun.
• Dark rocks, trees, or people breaking up the scene.

Real examples include:

• A skier on a sunlit slope with deep, dark pine trees in the background.
• A winter sunset where the snow in the foreground is glowing pink while the sky is still much brighter.

If you expose for the snow incorrectly, you either blow out the highlights (losing texture and detail) or you underexpose so much that the shadows become noisy when lifted.

This is a great example of using your histogram as your best friend. You want the snow pushed to the right side of the histogram without touching the edge. Many photographers use an expose-to-the-right (ETTR) approach in these scenes: they expose as bright as possible without clipping highlights, then darken slightly in post. This keeps noise low and detail high across the entire range.

Desert and mid-day sun: harsh but instructive examples

If sunrise and sunset are dramatic examples, midday desert scenes are brutal ones. Think of:

• Harsh sun overhead, blasting sand or rock formations.
• Deep, inky shadows in cracks, canyons, or under overhangs.

These are textbook examples of dynamic range in landscape photography because the contrast is so intense. The sky may be bright but pale, the ground reflective, and any shaded areas extremely dark.

Real examples include:

• A sandstone arch where the outer edge is in direct sunlight and the interior is almost black.
• A dry lake bed with bright, cracked mud and a mountain range in deep shadow beyond.

Here, photographers often:

• Intentionally simplify the scene, shooting silhouettes or graphic compositions where they don’t need shadow detail.
• Use fill light techniques (like reflectors when shooting closer subjects) or wait for a passing cloud to soften the extremes.
• Opt to shoot in black and white, where the high contrast becomes a stylistic choice instead of a problem.

These harsh scenes are some of the best examples of when you might not try to recover everything, but instead lean into the dynamic range as a creative tool.

Cityscapes and blue hour: modern examples of dynamic range in landscape photography

Landscape photography isn’t just mountains and lakes. City skylines at blue hour are fantastic modern examples of dynamic range in landscape photography because they combine natural and artificial light.

Picture a city skyline just after sunset:

• The sky is still fairly bright, fading from orange to deep blue.
• Buildings are mostly dark, but windows and streetlights are glowing.
• Reflections in water or glass surfaces add even more bright points.

Real examples include:

• A downtown skyline reflected in a river, with bright billboards and streetlights.
• A coastal city where the last light of the sky competes with bright harbor lights.

These scenes often exceed what a single exposure can handle cleanly. Photographers may:

• Bracket exposures: one for the sky, one for building detail, one for bright lights.
• Use manual blending in software to keep starburst lights from blowing out while preserving sky color.
• Shoot during the “sweet spot” of blue hour, when the brightness of the sky and city lights are closer, reducing the dynamic range naturally.

This is a great example of how timing, not just gear, affects how much dynamic range you have to manage.

Waterfalls, mist, and backlight: atmospheric examples

Waterfalls in backlight are gorgeous, but they’re also sneaky examples of dynamic range in landscape photography that mix bright highlights and deep shadows with lots of fine detail.

Imagine:

• A waterfall lit from behind, with the spray catching the sun and turning into bright, almost white streaks.
• Dark, wet rocks and deep shadowed areas around the falls.

Real examples include:

• A forest waterfall at sunset where the spray glows but the surrounding forest is very dark.
• Coastal cliffs where crashing waves throw up bright foam against nearly black rocks.

Here, you’ll often:

• Underexpose slightly to protect the highlights in the water and spray.
• Use local adjustments in editing (like dodging and burning) to bring back detail where you want the viewer’s eye to go.
• Accept that some areas will go to pure black or pure white and use that contrast to create drama.

How 2024–2025 camera tech changes these examples

The last few years have made a big difference in how we handle all these examples of dynamic range in landscape photography.

Modern sensors and processing pipelines (both in dedicated cameras and smartphones) offer:

• Higher base dynamic range: Newer full-frame and even APS-C cameras often reach 14+ stops at base ISO, according to independent testing labs.
• Improved in-camera HDR: Phones and some mirrorless cameras now automatically blend multiple exposures, giving more balanced skies and shadows in real time.
• Better noise performance: Lifting shadows from underexposed raw files is cleaner than it used to be, especially with AI-based noise reduction tools.

But even with these advancements, the physics hasn’t changed. The real-world examples remain the same: sunsets are still bright, forests are still dark, and snow still fools meters. What’s changed is how far you can push a single raw file before you need to bracket or blend.

If you want a deeper technical foundation on exposure and light, universities and educational institutions like MIT OpenCourseWare and photography programs at schools such as Harvard offer resources on imaging and perception that help explain why sensors behave the way they do.

Turning these examples into a shooting strategy

Looking at all these real examples of dynamic range in landscape photography, patterns start to appear.

Whenever you’re in the field, ask yourself a few questions:

• Where is the brightest highlight I care about? The sun, bright clouds, snow, water reflections, streetlights.
• Where is the darkest shadow I care about? Forest floor, canyon walls, rocks, building interiors.
• Can my camera reasonably hold detail in both in one shot? Check your histogram and highlight warnings.

From there, you can:

• Choose your priority: If the sky is the hero, expose for it and let some shadows go dark.
• Bracket when in doubt: It’s cheap insurance, especially for once-in-a-lifetime scenes.
• Use timing and composition: Move your position, wait for different light, or frame out overly bright or dark areas.

Over time, these examples become instincts. You’ll recognize a high-contrast desert scene and automatically think, “Okay, I’ll protect the highlights and plan to lift shadows later,” or see a blue-hour cityscape and know you have a limited window where the dynamic range is manageable.

The more real examples you study—and the more you practice—the less you’ll feel like you’re fighting your camera and the more you’ll feel like you’re collaborating with the light.

FAQ: examples of dynamic range in landscape photography

Q: What are some everyday examples of dynamic range in landscape photography that beginners can practice with?
A: Start with simple scenes you can revisit often: sunsets from your backyard, a nearby park with trees and open sky, a local river with bright reflections and dark banks, or city views at blue hour. Each of these gives you a different example of bright highlights and deep shadows to practice exposing for.

Q: Can you give an example of when I should bracket exposures instead of relying on a single shot?
A: If you see both highlight and shadow warnings flashing on your camera preview, or your histogram is jammed against both edges, that’s a strong example of a scene that needs bracketing. Classic cases: shooting directly into a sunrise or sunset with dark foreground elements, or photographing interiors that open onto bright windows with a landscape outside.

Q: Are phone cameras good enough for these examples of dynamic range in landscape photography?
A: Modern phones use multi-frame HDR and computational tricks to handle many high-contrast scenes surprisingly well, especially for social media. However, when you push shadows hard or want big prints, dedicated cameras with larger sensors still handle dynamic range better, especially at low ISO.

Q: How do I know if my highlights are really blown out in a high dynamic range scene?
A: Turn on highlight warnings (often called “blinkies”) and check your histogram. If the right edge is clipped and parts of the image are flashing, that’s a strong example of lost highlight detail. Slight clipping in tiny specular highlights (like sun glints on water) can be fine, but large blown-out areas in clouds or snow usually look bad.

Q: Is it better to underexpose or overexpose in these real examples of dynamic range challenges?
A: In most landscape situations, it’s safer to slightly underexpose to protect highlights, then lift shadows from the raw file. This is especially true in scenes like sunsets, waterfalls, and snowfields, where highlight detail carries a lot of the mood. Just keep ISO as low as possible to minimize noise when lifting shadows.

By paying attention to these real-world examples of dynamic range in landscape photography—and practicing how you expose and edit them—you’ll start to see light the way experienced landscape photographers do: not as a problem to fear, but as raw material you can shape.