On this video: Getting a excellent publicity? What’s it, and why is it so essential? That is what I can discover on this video, and a few of …
On this video: Getting a excellent publicity? What’s it, and why is it so essential? That is what I can discover on this video, and a few of …
Thank you so much Alister, for helping me to understand myself when i am in the Australian landscape. I usually even ask the area, the trees, and bushes, permission to be in their presence, before being guided into their world. I am in awe at their wisdom and love and the encredible lesson they show me about patience.
This video is exactly what I needed now. I came back from a frustrating day of shooting birds where I had it exposed correctly for the birds on the ground, but when they took flight I was underexposed. I am shooting raw, manual with auto ISO and using exposure compensation. This reminds me to look at the histogram more than the photo. Any videos on EC would be welcomed.
Thanks for a superb lesson. I'll try to remember to think more about exposure in future.
So glad I watched this Alister. You explained this so well and capturing the maximum amount of data seems so obvious now, otherwise why bother shooting in Raw? Thank you.
Amazing. but I have a question (maybe it's just me) but when I'm shooting a moody scene and overexposing to get the full range, as you say, then in post when I bring the exposure down it changes the colors to less natural and not too close to what I saw. however, when I expose close to the real mood in the camera the colors are very accurate. I use great gear so I know it's not a camera issue. any thoughts? thank you
Great thoughts and tips for exposure
Thank you! Well stated! I am also a guitar junkie!
Great video. It's true, often when captured by the moment or from the scene, I forget to "expose to the right". Photographing flowers or mushrooms isn't a great mistake and I can get good photos with a "low key" mood, but on landscape is a disaster. Thank you !
So appreciate this view
This video should be recommended for all new photographers (and many veteran photographers as well). You explain why and show why so well instead of just saying "do it this way." I shoot both film and digital. For me, I want to capture a full range of what's in the scene, no matter the recording medium, which I think is pretty much what you're recommending. With black and white negative film, you need to expose it enough to get details in the shadows (which usually means "over"exposing) and then you develop it to have details in the highlights (which frequently means "under"developing). The over and under are as compared to averaging the scene. In the darkroom (I do my own printing), there are still a lot of adjustments that I can make to get the scene the way I want it. Slide film doesn't give that amount of creativity unless you scan it and slide film is usually exposed the opposite way compared to negative film. When I shoot digital, I always look at the histogram, not so much the image.
Always a good video
I don’t always watch your videos, but when I do, I always learn a thing or two from your discussions. Thank you for producing the videos. Looking forward in getting my book next year.
When I shot film (starting in ‘71) I never heard ANYONE say “get it right in camera”. Why does anyone HAVE to be told that? Has the digital industry led to stupidity? I know, I’m asking the obvious. My point is not to be rude, but when did getting it right in camera become different than when we shot film? Garbage in, garbage out is still true.
When I made the transition from film to digital 15 years ago I had a very difficult time unlearning the tricks of the photographic film trade that I'd spent decades learning. This video would have made my transition far easier and more enjoyable had I watched it back then. Still, it's great to be reminded that digital exposure technique is drastically different than that demanded by film. Thanks for the reminder!
We should have an exposure aetting for always capturing an ETTR exposure regardless of the currently “chosen” exposure. Then, opening the file in LR it will have maximum IQ but not showing the technical exposure but rather the expressive exposure chosen in the field. I want to “lock in” the expressive intent in the field. Why should we have to compromise between technical IQ and artistic expression in the field – even if we completely change our expressive choices afterwards.
Spot On!!
You can’t get it when you never captured it in the first place…
Excellent analysis, Alister! I have been insuring better exposures by checking live view/histogram before taking the actual photographs. It is working very well. "ETTR" allows me the latitude to get moody if I choose an underexposed image in post processing.
Thanks
Alistair, that was a great video and clarified snippets of info what were floating around in the atmosphere, you brought it all together and made sense of it. You Rock! Thank you.
What a relief to see your video! I came from the music business, and began to photograph six years ago, and without thinking of it I took my creativity from the music into the photography. But I had a hard time finding inspiration, that stresses the thing you do: to get good data in order to make your creative thoughts come through. I photograph insects and often I work in environments with two little light, and here this video is spot on. Of course I’ve tried to expose to the right and I even overexpose the way you have showed, but I haven’t seen anyone showing to the full extent how to do it to reach your creative goals. Furthermore different discussion forums are full of people showing that they are afraid of noise, and instead of taking well exposed pictures, they use a lot of noise reducing software in post. Thus getting plasticy pictures that make a shallow impression. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this video and your thoughts on exposure. I really like dark photographs and am always told to lighten up. Ugh! This video really helps in letting me know to create the way I see my landscape photography. This is the only way to stand out from the crowd, print to please yourself. Thank you and I hope to attend one of your workshops soon. I love your work. It's incredible and true fine art. Thank you!
I knew this at an unconscious level. Thank you so much for unveiling this!
Another interesting talk, and haven't you got a good neighbour. I am in agreement about getting those highlights in amongst dark shadows, always amazing.
Interesting 'expressive' dialogue. Enjoy your visit with Adam.
Thank you, I found that most instructive, beautifully expressed as from the heart of an artist!
Looking forward to next week with Adam! Useful reminder today about exposure. Many a time I have come back with beautiful low light images (on the screen) only to find they were vastly underexposed. I guess most of us have a tendency concentrate on composition to the sometimes detriment of exposure. Looking at bringing home a file to work with as opposed to one that looks good on screen is as you say the best approach for many of us. Now to put it into practice!
That was wonderful! I am one of those that mistakenly exposes for the back of the camera no matter how many times I’ve told not to. This really helped me understand the concept of exposing to the right so much more. Thank you!
Excellent video as always!
Pink or Pink Floyd? I think we know the answer. Definitely Pink.
Very good advice which I agree 100%. Thank you very much.
Man — i've been fooled by the camera's viewfinder and back-screen so many times – ironic really. I've learned to trust the exposure meter. As a side note – I kind of like not truly knowing what things look like until I get home – allows me to enjoy the scenery a bit more.
Thank you….I always walk away after listening to you with wonderful insight and inspiration. I appreciate all you share.
Very good advice. I would add the importance of testing your own camera at the ISO levels that you use with over and under exposure, as different models handle highlights and shadows differently. In contrast to film "ISO" in the digital world "ISO" isn't that standard. You may find that above a certain ISO setting it might not make any difference whether you increase the ISO and expose in the middle or leave the ISO alone and underexpose – the aperture and speed alone determining noise.
Très intéressant je vais essayer de mettre en pratique pour ma photographie 👍
I’m confused about exposing to the right with sunsets. I expose all the way over until highlights aren’t clipping, but a lot of time it ends up with no shadows at all. I have a hard time processing & balancing them a lot of the time, and they end up looking awful.
Very great advice. I am starting to understand this lesson working with nightscape images. Thanks for the way you explain this.
Yes ETTR is the way to go, but start first with accurate white balance. Try to put the white balance to a extreme value for example 2500k and then look at your live view histogram and expose to the right, see what happens with the exposures when trying different kelvin values
This was eye opening and made utter sense to me. I’ve never heard this explanation before. I have a new camera and I was disappointed by the noise I was seeing. Now I see it was the numbskull operator – me. A problem that you have corrected. Yes indeed to this type of video
Fantastic content, Alister! Learning this early on in photography could have spared me much disappointment at the computer. I had to get a good grasp on understanding the histogram. Explaining the why we expose to the right is so helpful. Also I won’t sweat it so much using a high ISO knowing if I shift to the right I should be ok versus the left. I don’t know if others realize but the finished image on back of camera is a Jpg and the histogram is of the jpg NOT the raw. Just throwing that out there.
Good advice, thank you very much, Alister. I`m one of those guys taking the display to serious. I improved a little bit as I often take nightscapes, for example of NLCs. On this occasions I learned that underexposed RAWs that look quite well on the back of the camera are very often real junk.
I love your different approach to all they other landscape photography channels out there. Your channel is for sure one of the top 3 channels in terms of value to me personally.
Getting it right in camera (when it is a digital camera) – ignoring this mantra is one of the harder things for beginner's to understand. There is a still feeling amongst many outwith the photography community that altering an image in post is somehow 'cheating'. If more photographers followed the example of Adam Gibbs – he shows his raw files and then the final worked image in his videos then some of this stigma would be banished. A digital image is a means to an end – harvesting data.
A great explanation of how and why we should pay attention to our exposures. Modern cameras are very “clever” but we must ensure that they don’t take over, we must be in control of how we expose our RAW files so that we achieve the results that we want.
I'm thankful for your thoughts on this subject which is not as easy to master, which I'm currently trying to accomplish . at the same time I'm trying to better understand the relationship to exposing to the right and use of exposure compensation and by what amount. It is like a pool of muddy water
Great video Alister! I wasn't sure what I would think while watching this but a lot of the time I was nodding and agreeing with what you where saying… I actually thought it was going to go down a different path of what a correct exposure is for a end product. I have noticed since joining a couple of photography clubs that I have liked quite a few of the photographers work but then they are told by the judge it is to dark or to bright when it is a wonderful photo that has a mood and focus to the creative story and self expression. I don't like clubs for this reason of everything having to look 'correctly exposed' anyway I got a bit off topic there haha.
When it comes to me taking photos in the field I try and make sure I have plenty of file info while not going to far that I am clipping the blacks or the whites. I have just done this naturally over the years going by what my histogram says rather than what my screen shows me. I have been out with other photographers who mainly go by what the screen image looks like rather than using the histogram, most don't really know how to read it even some pros I know not you though haha.
I hope you enjoy getting back out and creating some more images.
With your book will it always be available or is there a limited time frame on it?
Good advice Alister , I fall into the trap of exposing for the highlights but forget to check that the shadows aren’t clipping , will take more care in future😊
The best explanation I have seen of why "getting it right in camera" means something different when you are using a modern digital camera than it did with a film camera. Different technology and tools requires a different method of working. I took on board the idea of exposing to the right very quickly after changing from film to digital, probably because I worked in a technological world and was therefore more open to learning new ideas, but I still get it wrong sometimes and expose for what it looks like in camera. That just proves that I am the weakest link in producing good images, whatever good means, and that spending limited funds on new gear is often a waste of money and will not necessarily give you better results. Better to understand your kit and how it works, in this case the sensor, and then concentrate on composition/light/texture/mood etc.
I began my photography journey as a teen in the mid 70s, with film obviously. Mostly black and white where I could play with exposure and certain film stocks of choice. I quickly learned once I had my own darkroom as well as using my high school's darkroom that proper film exposure was everything. It pre-determined how I was going to process my film with what developer and temps/times, push or pull. Then once I went in to make prints it was paper contrast selections and how to dodge and burn what I have on the film.
When I went digital in the 2000s I brought those habits to mt DSLR photography, but except with a developing drum & reels and a darkroom printing setup, we have Lightroom/Photoshop. I still believe we need to get it right in camera in order to develop what we want in out final image.
Also a very big reason is at times I tend to re-visit those old files and decide to change up the "look" or "feel" of the image. Without getting a dynamic raw capture, none of that would be possible down the road.