Brett
Community Member
Great video Dennis!
For those not as versed in lightroom and exposure techniques, Dennis makes reference to "under exposing" the picture in order to capture the highlights properly. This is probably one of the best tips he can give to a beginner photographer. If we under expose or over expose the picture, we have information that we can play with in post processing to help us get the picture we want.
So taking this (exposure concept) a step further, you can also slightly over expose the picture to capture more of the details in the shadows. You can then recapture the highlights in Lightroom by playing with exposure or using the highlight slider bar. The same goes for under exposing the picture, you can also use the exposure slider or shadow slider bar to try and recapture lost details due to under exposure. Either way, you are sacrificing one for the other. The key is knowing when to use which technique (over vs under exposure). If you have some shadows around your subject that have some great detail and you don't care about the highlights, you can slightly over expose the picture to try and capture that detail. You risk "blowing out" (lingo for "losing") some of the highlights, but the good news is that since you obviously were smart enough to shoot in RAW, you can now "pull back" the exposure and recapture most of the highlights, as long as you didn't over expose too much. In booth cases, under or over exposing, it's a good idea to try and be within 1/2 to 1 stop of the true exposure. This gives you a lot of flexibility when you develop the digital negative.
So to recap:
Under exposure = better detail in highlights (Brighter areas of the picture)
Over expsoure = better detail in shadows (Darker areas of the picture)
Circling back to Dennis's under exposure tip, I think digital cameras tend to do a better job at magically capturing details in the shadows when under exposed compared to losing details in the highlights when over exposed. So leaning towards slightly under might be better.
Hopefully no one's head is spinning too much, tried to keep it simple...
For those not as versed in lightroom and exposure techniques, Dennis makes reference to "under exposing" the picture in order to capture the highlights properly. This is probably one of the best tips he can give to a beginner photographer. If we under expose or over expose the picture, we have information that we can play with in post processing to help us get the picture we want.
So taking this (exposure concept) a step further, you can also slightly over expose the picture to capture more of the details in the shadows. You can then recapture the highlights in Lightroom by playing with exposure or using the highlight slider bar. The same goes for under exposing the picture, you can also use the exposure slider or shadow slider bar to try and recapture lost details due to under exposure. Either way, you are sacrificing one for the other. The key is knowing when to use which technique (over vs under exposure). If you have some shadows around your subject that have some great detail and you don't care about the highlights, you can slightly over expose the picture to try and capture that detail. You risk "blowing out" (lingo for "losing") some of the highlights, but the good news is that since you obviously were smart enough to shoot in RAW, you can now "pull back" the exposure and recapture most of the highlights, as long as you didn't over expose too much. In booth cases, under or over exposing, it's a good idea to try and be within 1/2 to 1 stop of the true exposure. This gives you a lot of flexibility when you develop the digital negative.
So to recap:
Under exposure = better detail in highlights (Brighter areas of the picture)
Over expsoure = better detail in shadows (Darker areas of the picture)
Circling back to Dennis's under exposure tip, I think digital cameras tend to do a better job at magically capturing details in the shadows when under exposed compared to losing details in the highlights when over exposed. So leaning towards slightly under might be better.
Hopefully no one's head is spinning too much, tried to keep it simple...
