1. An adaptive dynamic range compression apparatus, comprising: (a) a high frequency boost circuit that receives an input image comprising a plurality of input pixels, each of the input pixels being represented by a pixel value having a first predetermined first number of bits, the high frequency boost circuit producing an output image comprising a plurality of output pixels as a function of: (i) a first region of the input image neighboring each input pixel, the first region having a first area, (ii) a second region of the input image neighboring each pixel, the second region having a second area larger than the first area, and (iii) a third region of the input image neighboring each pixel, the third region having a third area larger than the second area, but smaller than the entire image; and (b) a dynamic range mapping circuit that receives the output image produced by the high frequency boost circuit and maps the output image to a target image comprising a plurality of target pixels, each of the target pixels being represented by a pixel value having a predetermined second number of bits, the second number of bits being less than the first number of bits.