Ta
king Photographs—Image Adjustment
59
Adjusting Contrast:
Tone Compensation
As photographs are saved to the memory card, they are processed to adjust
the distribution of tones in the image, enhancing contrast. Tone compensa-
tion is performed by means of tone curves that define the relationship be-
tween the distribution of tones in the original image and the compensated
result. The options in the
Tone Comp.
menu give you control over the type
of tone curve used.
Option
Description
Camera uses same standard curve for all images. This option is
suited to most types of scene, whether dark or bright.
This curve produces “softer” images. If you are shooting a
portrait in direct sunlight, this option can be used to prevent
bright areas of the image from being “washed out” by glare.
Choose this curve to preserve detail when taking shots of misty
landscapes and other low-contrast subjects.
If you have Nikon Capture 3
*
(
170), you can define your own
tone curve and download it to the camera.
Custom
is used to
select this user-defined curve. If no curve has been download-
ed to the camera, this option is equivalent to
Normal
.
Auto
Even when shooting the same type scene, the curve chosen by the camera in
A
(
Auto
)
mode may vary with exposure, the position of your subject, or the amount of the frame
it occupies. To shoot several shots with the same tone compensation, choose one of
the other tone curves.
Normal
Less
Contrast
More
Contrast
Custom
Camera automatically optimizes contrast by selecting the ap-
propriate curve. Curve selected varies from image to image.
For best results, use a type G or D lens.
(default)
Auto
* This feature is not available when the D100 is used with the Macintosh version of
Nikon Capture 3.
