Highlight headroom

Highlight headroom is the measure of how much additional dynamic range a given photographic medium (such as film or digital image sensors) has to record the detail within the brightest parts of a scene.

With limited highlight headroom, it will be hard to appreciate the intricate details within the fabric of the dress.

If this bright spot (called a highlight) lies at the edge of the person's outline (from the camera's perspective) then it may end up blending into the cloudy sky if there is insufficient highlight headroom.

This is a particular problem with digital cameras which often have a smaller dynamic range than film.

[1] This article related to film or motion picture terminology is a stub.