It Is Not Easy Being Funny, Believe Me, I Know

This refers to the cameras ability to capture both the highlights and shadows in one shot. Low dynamic range, and you'll get either or. High dynamic range (the same as the current HDR fad in "cartoonizing", as I call it) provides images with a greater latitude of detail in both those areas. Essentially, most DLSRs have a dynamic range of around 4 stops, and its sometimes less with film. High end medium format digital backs, have a much higher dynamic range of 10 stops. So, with your DLSR, your camera may be able to "see" the detail anywhere between F5.6 and F11 or F11 and F22 as an example, at any given shutter speed and ISO speed, but if you waiver outside your F-stop range you'll find that detail in your shadows turns to complete black, and your highlights blow out completely, showing complete white. Once those details are gone, you cannot recover them, hence why its important to try and stay within your cameras F-Stop range.

Medium format cameras, other than providing much higher resolution, will allow you a greater ability to stretch your exposure across more settings to keep the detail. Imagine shooting into the sun, with your best friend in the foreground. Under normal conditions you would use your flash to highlight your friend from silhouette, or increase your exposure to brighten your friend, but you will for-go all the nice sunset colours, which will blow out to completely white.

So when it comes to achieving a better picture, overall its not just resolution that will get your better results. Be mindful of resolution, bit depth and your dynamic range. I have tried to be funny all my life. As an adult, I have come to realize that I have never been truly funny, but I have always been clever. I have been great at twisting word meanings, but I have never been good at the distribution of unbridled humor to others.

Knowledge is very important to the art of comedy. The comedian must know ahead of time whether or not the audience members have the pre-requisite knowledge of subject matters needed to understand the basis for his jokes. A person has to know how something really is or how it works in order to understand the extent of how it has been altered, skewed, and / or wildly exaggerated. In addition, the audience with its pre-requisite knowledge, becomes overconfident its ability to anticipate where the comedian is going with the information he presents to them. This overconfidence is exactly what makes a well told and executed joke so successful. A good comedian is a master of the bait and switch. It is like one minute you are in your car traveling south in the southbound lane and the next second you are traveling in the same lane but you are dodging oncoming traffic because you're now headed due north! A good comedian springs things on you. It's like being sucker punched by your own mother; you never see it coming. The more comfortable and secure a comedian can make you feel about your pre-requisite knowledge, the more successful the reaction to the joke will be. The element of surprise is very important.

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