The Optimum Digital Exposure

[fractal]

Interesting essay. I am so guilty of underexposing my shots because I'm afraid of boosting ISO or increasing aperture. I want to shoot everything at ISO 100 and f5.6. What I have noticed is that when I do overexpose a shot I am always delighted with what I can pull out of it in LR Raw processing. Now I just have to convince myself when I'm holding the camera...


https://luminous-landscape.com/the-optimum-digital-exposure/


The Optimum Digital Exposure

October 28, 2014 by Bob DiNatatale

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by Bob DiNatale
Concepts from my upcoming book…
The Optimum Digital Exposure – “Introducing the OneZoneTM Digital Exposure Method”
For too long we have been accepting the “digital look” of our photographs. The compression of tones, especially in the dark areas, seems intrinsic to digital photography, but in reality it is the result of “non-optimum” exposure. With optimum exposure, you don’t have to compromise the film-like appearance with digital photography.

It has been more than ten years since Michael Reichmann wrote about the concept of ETTR (Exposure To The Right). 1 Originally the primary benefit was to separate the signal from the noise of the sensor, especially in earlier digital cameras. With improvements in camera/chip technology and digital processing software, the signal-to-noise ratio has improved greatly. However, there are additional benefits when Exposing To The Right – including more tonal data; more sharpness; less processing artifacts. Though the practice of ETTR has generated much discussion and reworking, photographers still labor to “optimize” their digital raw exposure. What follows is my attempt at explaining digital exposure.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Interesting essay. I am so guilty of underexposing my shots because I'm afraid of boosting ISO or increasing aperture. I want to shoot everything at ISO 100 and f5.6. What I have noticed is that when I do overexpose a shot I am always delighted with what I can pull out of it in LR Raw processing. Now I just have to convince myself when I'm holding the camera...


https://luminous-landscape.com/the-optimum-digital-exposure/


The Optimum Digital Exposure

October 28, 2014 by Bob DiNatatale

107Share
10Share


0Share
by Bob DiNatale
Concepts from my upcoming book…
The Optimum Digital Exposure – “Introducing the OneZoneTM Digital Exposure Method”
For too long we have been accepting the “digital look” of our photographs. The compression of tones, especially in the dark areas, seems intrinsic to digital photography, but in reality it is the result of “non-optimum” exposure. With optimum exposure, you don’t have to compromise the film-like appearance with digital photography.

It has been more than ten years since Michael Reichmann wrote about the concept of ETTR (Exposure To The Right). 1 Originally the primary benefit was to separate the signal from the noise of the sensor, especially in earlier digital cameras. With improvements in camera/chip technology and digital processing software, the signal-to-noise ratio has improved greatly. However, there are additional benefits when Exposing To The Right – including more tonal data; more sharpness; less processing artifacts. Though the practice of ETTR has generated much discussion and reworking, photographers still labor to “optimize” their digital raw exposure. What follows is my attempt at explaining digital exposure.

Interesting. For years I shot everything at 2.8 or 2 on Aperture Priority. Lately Ive found my missed love of 11 or 16 with my little fuji.

Anyways, I'm not really agreeing with that essay. Composition, framing, etc., those sorts of things are infinitely more important especially for people who shoot in RAW & have the time to process files. I get what he's saying but that little bit with the white rabbit/black cat, thats stuff photographers have done for years. Metering off a white object underexposes and a black object overexposes. You compensate by a 1/2 stop, generally youre fine.

So where I'm coming from? The optimum exposure in bright sunlight (for me anyways) will always be 1/ISO @ f/16. (adjust accordingly for the f-stop you want)

 

[sporadic]

I've always shot to the right a little with my Canon DSLRs, but find myself not doing so with my Fuji X-T1. I've been pretty impressed at the detail and color which can be pulled from the shadows, and the EVF lets you get a much better feel for how the final product will turn out.

 

[NowInc]

With the sensors on todays DSLR, this article is a bit off the mark. I understand what they are saying, and tho its not BAD advice, its not as essential. The dynamic range captured by any sensor in the last year or so can pull up to, and sometimes beyond, 2 full stops out of the shadows with little to no loss in quality. Not saying to rely on that by ANY means, but its from my experience that you can recover a lot more from an underexposure, than I can from an over.

I do agree with @PhotoDave219 on the fact that a photographer should be far more concerned with framing and composition. You can fix exposure issues easily, in either direction, but you can't change where things are in your shot (well, with massive Photoshopping..sure..but at that point are you really a photographer anymore?).

 

[PhotoDave219]

I've always shot to the right a little with my Canon DSLRs, but find myself not doing so with my Fuji X-T1. I've been pretty impressed at the detail and color which can be pulled from the shadows, and the EVF lets you get a much better feel for how the final product will turn out.

I normally shoot -1/3rd. I can always pull the shadows out.

And those fujis.... I love what they're doing...

 

[thomas998]

Interesting essay. I am so guilty of underexposing my shots because I'm afraid of boosting ISO or increasing aperture. I want to shoot everything at ISO 100 and f5.6. What I have noticed is that when I do overexpose a shot I am always delighted with what I can pull out of it in LR Raw processing. Now I just have to convince myself when I'm holding the camera...


https://luminous-landscape.com/the-optimum-digital-exposure/


The Optimum Digital Exposure

October 28, 2014 by Bob DiNatatale

107Share
10Share


0Share
by Bob DiNatale
Concepts from my upcoming book…
The Optimum Digital Exposure – “Introducing the OneZoneTM Digital Exposure Method”
For too long we have been accepting the “digital look” of our photographs. The compression of tones, especially in the dark areas, seems intrinsic to digital photography, but in reality it is the result of “non-optimum” exposure. With optimum exposure, you don’t have to compromise the film-like appearance with digital photography.

It has been more than ten years since Michael Reichmann wrote about the concept of ETTR (Exposure To The Right). 1 Originally the primary benefit was to separate the signal from the noise of the sensor, especially in earlier digital cameras. With improvements in camera/chip technology and digital processing software, the signal-to-noise ratio has improved greatly. However, there are additional benefits when Exposing To The Right – including more tonal data; more sharpness; less processing artifacts. Though the practice of ETTR has generated much discussion and reworking, photographers still labor to “optimize” their digital raw exposure. What follows is my attempt at explaining digital exposure.

It depends on which camera I'm using as to what I do... with a point and shoot where I wont have a RAW file I try to shoot on the mark. If its a camera that has RAW then I tend to under expose just a bit because I know I can get it where I really want it using Capture One... I always worry about blowing out some highlights and that tends to not happen if I err on the side of caution... In fact with some of the software out there I've be able to go back to old photos and managed to pull detail out of the shadows that never would have dreamed possible... but I've never been able to find anything to pull anything out of the blow outs...