In chapter 7 of this first season, The House of the Dragon has fallen into one of the mistakes into which it has already fallen Game of Thrones. During the night scenes, many of us ran to see if our television had suffered a breakdown that caused the loss of brightness of the image. Later we saw that it was simply an attempt to wrap us in the same darkness as the characters. A very noble goal, were it not for the sacrifice of the possibility that our eyes could discern what was happening on the scene.
And this leads us to ask ourselves a question: Can the eyes really adapt to scenes like the ones we saw in The House of the Dragon and previously in Game of Thrones? The answer is complex, since our eyes can adapt to the dark. We have all seen them during a walk at night or when trying to see a meteor shower. However, there are some details that can interfere with that adaptation.
Understanding how this all happens can be very helpful. Not just to satisfy curiosity. Also to know what is the best way to see the chapter and, at least, distinguish what is happening.
How do the eyes adapt to the dark?
The eyes can adapt to the dark in different ways, although the most important are mainly two.
On the one hand, they can shrink or dilate the pupil to allow more or less light to pass through to the retina. This is possible thanks to two muscles: the sphincter pupillae and the dilator muscle. Thanks to them, it dilates so that as much light as possible enters, when we are in a very dark situation, and it contracts to reduce the amount of light that passes through in very bright environments. Thus, we can see as much as possible in the dark and the eyes are not damaged in case there is an excess of light.
The other way the eyes adapt to the dark is throughadapt the light sensitivity of rods. These are some photoreceptor cells of the retina, with great sensitivity to light, which in turn become saturated when the lighting is excessive. They are capable of modifying that sensitivity, capturing more or less light as needed. Now, we are talking about finding ourselves surrounded by darkness. Perhaps Rhaenyra and Daemon in the beach scene adapted their pupils this way. At least they would have adapted if the scene hadn’t been shot in broad daylight. But what about those we see The House of the Dragon on our televisions?
How to adapt the screen to ‘The House of the Dragon’
It is important to note that if the scene is as dark as the ones in The House of the Dragonbut we are in a lit environment, our eyes will not adapt to the dark. She has explained it to hypertextual Dr. Alberto Lozano, ophthalmologist. “If the ambient light it is much more powerful than the image on the screen, the eye is not going to adapt”, he says. “It will capture more reflection on the screen what other thing”.
This means that it could be useful, at least to deal with these scenes, watch tv in the dark. However, not everything depends on us, since the variety of screen tones is also important.
“Then there is the gray rendering limit of the screen. If it is completely black, there will be no contrast to capture. The eye adapts because the rods are capable of being stimulated by even a single photon, but if there is practically no difference from one pixel to another, they will be able to distinguish contrasts”.
Doctor Alberto Lozano, ophthalmologist
Therefore, you can also play with your own image colors. There are many types of screens, offering very different possibilities. But even in the oldest we can vary the backlight, brightness and contrast. Especially the first can be uploaded little by little until you find that point where the images are better differentiated. If when reaching the maximum the situation has not improved, we would already try with the brightness and the background. The important thing is to give our eyes those pixels of light to latch on to in order to adapt our vision to the dark.
Will have to wait for the next chapter The House of the Dragon to see if they repeat the same pattern that they already used in scenes from Game of Thrones as mythical as the battle of winterfell. Maybe it was something isolated or maybe it will happen again. Just in case, it is best to keep these tips in mind. Our eyes adapt very well to the dark, but sometimes it is necessary to give them a hand.