What concept refers to film's limitation in capturing details in extreme lighting situations?

The concept that refers to a film's limitation in capturing details in extreme lighting situations is dynamic range. Dynamic range is a critical aspect of photography that describes the range of exposure that a film or digital sensor can handle, specifically the darkest and lightest parts of an image. When lighting conditions are extreme, such as very bright highlights and very deep shadows, the dynamic range determines how well these details can be preserved without losing information in the highlights (blowing out) or shadows (clipping).

Exposure latitude, which was selected as the answer, refers more to the range of exposure settings that can still yield acceptable results, often considering a bit of flexibility in how much over or under-exposure a film or sensor can tolerate without creating unacceptable quality loss. While it relates to exposure variations, it does not specifically address the limitation of capturing details in the context of extreme lighting conditions as directly as dynamic range does.

Contrast ratio involves the difference in luminance or color that makes an object distinguishable, and color accuracy pertains to how true the colors reproduced by an image are compared to their real-world counterparts; neither concept addresses the limitations of detail capture in high-contrast lighting scenarios. Understanding dynamic range is key for photographers as it helps in assessing how well they can