
218 THE EXTREMES
Later, if we decide the image is too light, we can simply darken it. If an
ideal digital sensor existed, exposing it would be easy. Any photographer
who had any doubt about the ideal exposure could be safe in simply giving
more exposure than necessary. e resulting image could, with manipula-
tion, produce a print with the same grayscale. (Furthermore, as long as we
are talking about ideals, we might as well assume the lm grain would be
ne also.)
In the real world, however, exposure is a more critical decision. is is
because the graph of density steps in a recorded image is not a straight line:
it’s a curve.
A “Bad” Camera ...