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Thread: Why and When to Correct Exposure

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    Default Why and When to Correct Exposure

    Over the last couple of years I've developed a reasonable facility with Lightroom (and to a lesser degree Photoshop). I can make a picture warmer or cooler. I can open up the lights in the shadows, or recover the highlights in several different ways. I have fairly good intuition for what each slider is going to do to any given photo: temp, tint, exposure, recovery, brightness, saturation, etc. (though the auto settings still surprise me more often than not).

    However what I don't seem to have much handle on at all is when and why to do what to my photographs. Looking at a photograph of a bee or a bird, I have really hard time deciding which way to move the slider, or whether to move it at all. Does the photo have a color cast? And if so is it one that should be corrected or not, and if so by how much? How blue should the water be? How bright should the image be? Aside from obvious problems like blown highlights, what should the image look like?

    Can anyone recommend any books or videos or such that focus on what to correct in a wildlife photograph rather than on how to correct it? When can I trust the auto white balance? Should I just bring a Color balance calibration target with me and shoot a frame or two of that every time the light changes? Any suggestions?

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    The objective answer is to include an 18% Grey card in one of your images so that you can use the card to set the white point. That is if you are after an accurate replication of the light quality. However the subjective answer is to set the white point warmer or cooler or leave it as is, if in your opinion the light quality is accurate to the mood/atmosphere you want to convey in the image. IMO either method is correct - it just depends on your objective.

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    BPN Member Don Lacy's Avatar
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    I consider white balance another creative decision and will set it to what ever I feel best represents what my vision of the image is. Sometimes it will be an accurate representation of the light at other times it will be either cooler or warmer depending on what mood I am trying to convey.
    Don Lacy
    You don't take a photograph, you make it - Ansel Adams
    There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs - Ansel Adams
    http://www.witnessnature.net/
    https://500px.com/lacy

  4. #4
    Robert Amoruso
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    Hello Elliotte,

    Sorry I missed this.

    You asked a very complex question which I feel would be too involved to address here. My recommendations are:

    1) At my workshop that you are attending, we can cover some of these things.
    2) Birds as Art "Digital Basics File" available at https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252.
    3) Birds as Art "The Art of Bird Photography 2" available at https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=19.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Elliotte Rusty Harold View Post
    I can make a picture warmer or cooler. I can open up the lights in the shadows, or recover the highlights in several different ways. I have fairly good intuition for what each slider is going to do to any given photo: temp, tint, exposure, recovery, brightness, saturation, etc. (though the auto settings still surprise me more often than not).
    Then experiment

    However what I don't seem to have much handle on at all is when and why to do what to my photographs. [Looking at a photograph of a bee or a bird, I have really hard time deciding which way to move the slider, or whether to move it at all.
    I think you should let your eyes be the judge. It's your photographs. You were there taking the photographs. You decide whether you want your photograph look like what you saw when you pressed the shutter button, or to be as beautiful as it can be but may not reflect truly what you saw.

    Does the photo have a color cast? And if so is it one that should be corrected or not
    You can check some neutral colors like black, grey and white in your photograph and see if R=G=B. If not, and they should be, then likely there is a color cast. But if there's no black, grey or white colors in your photograph, you can decide how your photographs look like. The viewers were not there, you were. The viewers may know the bird should look brown, for example, but they likely don't know how brown exactly it should be. Even yourself may not remember, when you're sitting in front of your computer, how brown the bird was. Not to mention colors don't look the same all the time.

    and if so by how much? How blue should the water be? How bright should the image be? Aside from obvious problems like blown highlights, what should the image look like?
    You decide.

    Can anyone recommend any books or videos or such that focus on what to correct in a wildlife photograph rather than on how to correct it?
    Many photoshop, lightroom, color correction books can show you what to do. There is no need to find those that focus on wildlife photographs because the process is the same no matter what photographs you're correcting. I think it's more important to understand why you do what you do.


    When can I trust the auto white balance?
    When it gives you what you want

    Should I just bring a Color balance calibration target with me and shoot a frame or two of that every time the light changes?
    You can but you may find it not practical under some circumstances.

    Any suggestions?
    As above

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