Expose for the highlights

[lfranga]

Hello everyone

I have read several articles which advise to expose for the hightlights but am confused as to just how to do that.  I have a Nikon D300 and have been bracketing but am sure there probably is a much more efficient method.  If someone could explicitly explain to me the best method of exposing for the highlights, I would very much appreciate it.

Lowell

[engineer]

Welcome to the forum.
The best place for information on this expose for highlights or "expose to the right" in
these links on the Luminous Landscape
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml the original article
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t9510.html forum discussion
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml using histograms to get you there
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=25224 more discussion
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/determining-exposure.shtml another article on exposure
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/techniques/process.shtml tutorial on going from exposure to print
Check these out and let us know if the help.
Les

[mitch]

You will get the best results if you use the camera's histogram. The idea is to expose the photo so that the histogram approaches the right edge without bunching up there in a big spike.

Those of us who used to shoot slide film would under-expose with film like Velvia to get more saturation. It worked well. But given the slow speed of the film, you needed a sturdy tripod, mirror lock, cable release, and perfect technique. It worked with landscapes, stationary macros, etc. It was next to useless with moving subjects.

Digital sensors will have more noise when you under-expose. So the idea is to over-expose without burning out the highlights.

The technique works best with cameras that have separate histograms for the red, green, and blue channels. That can help you avoid burning out a channel. Early Canon DSLRs like the 60D, for example, are prone to burning out the red channel.

I try to get the histogram to gracefully end before getting all the way to the extreme right.

You do have to use judgment. Not all photos are candidates. The black horse in a coal mine, for example.

Cheers,

Mitch

[Gale]

lol Mitch....
Wish to see your black horse in the coal mine...


Got a chucke here...

[mitch]

lol Mitch....
Wish to see your black horse in the coal mine...


Got a chucke here...

White seal on snow?

Mitch

[Gale]

White seal on snow is easier...lol
Don't know why. Guess it is all the white birds in fla:>))))))

[RonWhitaker]

I find in some cases I can push over the edge of the histogram because the internal processing of the jpg pushes the highlights to the right.  When the images are viewed in raw the histogram is no longer up tight against the right.  Occasionally this fails so I tend to do what Mitch indicated and approach sometimes bracketing.

Ron