1. A method of effectively increasing the dynamic range of an image sensor, the method comprising: capturing multiple images of a scene taken at different exposures; searching a selected image of the multiple images for overexposed and underexposed portions based on a pixel value indicative of luminance; analyzing portions in other images of the multiple images taken at lower exposures corresponding spatially to the overexposed portions in the selected image; analyzing portions in other images of the multiple images taken at higher exposures corresponding spatially to the underexposed portions in the selected image; and processing at least one of the analyzed portions with a machine vision application.