The first generally known case of taking two different exposures of the same high dynamic range scene and combining the results was around 1850. Gustave Le Gray did it to render seascapes showing both the sky and the sea. Le Gray used one negative for the sky, and another one with a longer exposure for the sea, and combined the two into one picture in positive. Since then, combining multiple exposures to deal with wide dynamic ranges in a scene has been going on.

In the mid-twentieth century dodging and burning - selectively increasing or decreasing the exposure of regions of the photograph - became popular. This was done in the darkroom using masks to alter the exposure time of different elements in the scene when the image from a negative was projected onto the photosensitive paper using an enlarger. Ansel Adams raised the technique to an art form. All one has to do is study the prints he made of Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico to see this development. The negative was exposed and developed in 1941. Adams made over 1,000 prints as they were ordered by customers over the next 4 decades. He chemically altered the original negative at least once in the late 1950s to darken the sky. The prints considered most definitive weren't produced until the mid-1960s.

Adams also developed the Zone System to set exposure. Cameras didn't have built in meters until the middle of the 20th century. Before then a light meter was used, or the photographer just worked off the knowledge of what luminance a particular object would have under different lighting conditions. Adams divided the luminance range capability of his negatives into zones and would meter the brightest and darkest objects for which he wished to retain the details. He would then set exposure for the brightest and darkest areas of the scene to fall in the specific zone he planned to develop at the brightest/darkest capability of the papers he used to make prints with. Even then a negative could record more dynamic range than a print could reproduce. Thus the need for controlling contrast with exposure/developing times and for dodging and burning.

Different films also had different characteristics with regard to dynamic range and contrast. The amount of time used to develop exposed film also affected the highlights and shadows differently, as did the amount of time used to make the print.