One stop, one zone, doubling the light is always a stop and a stop is always double. Come to my free shadow hackers live class on the site and I explain it more. So 1 stop up from the zero point on a meter is double. A second stop is 4 times the light you started with etc.

Really knowing shadows is a game changer. My live Shadow Hacker class is this Sat on my site. It will bring at all together.

That is a fair option and I tried that also. But a real macro lens give sharper results as extension tubes usually cost quality especially,

Valid point. It's made it easy to overdo it. Just like starbucks burns their coffee. I also roasted by own and am in charge of a cafe in Mexico because the coffee was not good enough. And the young baristas always want the music too loud and soulless.

@@Seimstudios when the music gets too loud and soulless, its a sign you're getting old haha ;) I respect running a cafe -- I've dreamed of having my own little cafe where coffee is done right, some nice jazz, and my wife's art (not my own) is on the walls -- but I expect its far harder to do than my dreams tell me.

PS - I think that would be a good video for you to make (I would but I'm not a presenter). "Stop relying on depth of field and start leveraging pools of highlights and shadows"

Ya I just ordered used OM5 MK II and a Pani G9 to play with M43 stuff

Thanks. Problems is YT is all algorithm now and does not rewed simple videos. But I;ll try and keep doing them.

I don't understand this camera. When you manual focus, does the OVF reflect that? Or is it a viewfinder that can also show camera settings. And the frame is fixed along with the permanent lens. I'm trying to figure out why this high priced camera is so popular with pros when it seems to be very limited in functionality.

I mean the video is full of my photos. But anyone in my audience is welcome to look at my site

Appreciate it

Not that simple for pros. As I often show in reviewing alternative products which I try to give much attention too, they usually far far short and are doing a terrible job of listening to the market.

Well. I have studied with some of the worlds best photographers over the past 20 years. I could count on one hand the ones that really understood what I just covered. I don't think it can be made much more simple. But it the end no need to resent the truth. It is very much about the shadows. Most photographers new or experiences to not understand this.

@@Seimstudios Oh my... I mean no offense, but I don't think you realize how you sound when you say these things. We can't *tell* people how great we are, instead we must do our thing, let them notice on their own and let them decide for themselves. Telling and retelling about how you studied with some great photographers and know better than them does not mean anything (especially if your photos do not support the claim), this attitude just offends people. When you say "most photographers do not understand this" -- I assume you mean photographers attending your workshop? Because your advice is really very photography 101. I mean I literally learned this stuff in my first photography class in college almost 30 years ago. Lets break it down... #1 and #2 are super 1st day photography stuff. It's exposure, well covered everywhere, nothing you say is new. I won't bother commenting further. #3 "It's not about exposure, it's about shadows" -- I would say shadows and highlights are equally important as both work together to render a 3D image onto a 2D plane, they combine to define shape and depth. You cannot have light without dark. We call this contrast. It is contrast that we balance to define our composition. I agree do not just dial your exposure meter to the middle and call it done, but if you are teaching early photographers, then I would say exposure is not the most important thing -- composition is the most important thing. Developing an eye that sees shapes, contrast and balance is far more important than nailing exposure as most cameras give us 3 stops of wiggle room anyway. So if you want a low-key composition, you can slide a slider, but what good is low-key without a good composition that supports it. You cannot slide a composition slider. So yes, best to do everything right -- and relying on a slider is never best -- but if a new photographer is overwhelmed and can't focus on everything just yet, then sliding a slider to find good exposure is much more acceptable than trying to find a good composition after the photo is taken.

@@aarontharris Not telling anyone how great I am. People can judge by my work. I was awarded a Master of Photography from PPA and I do have the experience to confidently teach what I am teaching. I have a master class on composition and line as well as well as one. and have had the honor to study with some of the worlds best in this area. This stuff should be 1st day photography class but it no longer is and most do not know it. Shadow Hacking is an approach that does not fail and took me decades to create. I am simply sharing it and you can use my experience or not. It all good.

@Seimstudios Master of Photography from PPA is just a certificate of merit, I have something similar from NYIP. I'm not trying to argue with you or debate with you. I just suggest you pay attention to how you present yourself. Your tips are good and I'm sure beginners will appreciate it. But please don't say "most photographers" and these topics are not the best advice you'll ever get about exposure. These are not mastery things. Just be humble and share your passion and experience.

@@aarontharris No it's not a certificate of Merit. But it took getting a lot or international level merits to get it. When you you get it you mostly realize that you are just getting started because it's so much work. Most photographers do not understand exposure or shadow and tones. In fact as the late Ken Whitmire said. Tones is the least utilized and least understood factor in Photography. Instead of calling him a show off I listened and spend the past 15 years studying it. You can be offended or do the same. Thanks for your thoughts.

That works but you'll nail your results better using that spot meter with Zones whether it's film or diagonal.

@@Seimstudios I assume you're referring to Ansel Adams' zone system. The zone system is a good guideline, however, it was designed when film had less latitude and photography processing was limited to darkroom dodging and burning -- I know, I did it for years. These days you'll get better results metering off the darkest point you want to retain detail and compensating by the amount your particular film can handle. This is because film does not clip highlights like digital does. You can develop the film (chemicals) longer to build the details into the highlights. It compresses the highlights (which is why Ansel Adams did not do it), but with modern tools we now have the ability to decompress the highlights giving a very wide latitude when shots are captured in this way. Some tonality is lost, so this must be taken into consideration when choosing how far to push the shadows.

Agreed. But despite having started on film and studied with some of the best from that era. Despite the painters using shadow. Even the masters of film never taught shadow hacking and once you approach it from that way everything else forms around that.

Rick is good. I got to write guests content in his books and have him on the podcast a couple times.

Bracketing is rarely necessary and never an excuse for not understanding exposure.

I'm glad it resonated

Well. Though I have an award winning workshop on exposure and 20+ years. If anyone applies why I just taught it will change their entire process. The goal here is that people stop exposing for highlights because it alone a poor method of exposure management. Expose for shadows changes everything which is why I invited those that want to learn more to my Shadow Hackers class for free.

@@Seimstudios I was going solely on what I saw in this video, not having seen your workshop, which might well be excellent (depending, I suppose on who awarded the awards). Exposure management depends on your workflow - that is, it's different depending on whether you're working with a raw file or SOOC. In raw it's all about maximising the information content of the raw file, which means exposing the highlights right to 100% - or in extreme cases (which are rare given the DR or modern cameras) sacrificing some of the highlights to maintain decent SNR in the shadows. If that's what you mean by 'expose for the shadows' then we're in agreement - but I didn't think that your video was clear on what you meant by it, nor what you meant by 'correct exposure, which workflow you're talking about, and indeed what you meant by the word 'exposure' itself (and I'm concerned that you talk about ISO when talking about 'doubles and halves' - suggesting that ISO is a component of exposure, which it is not). I'm not saying that you were wrong about anything, merely that it wasn't clear what you meant.

​@Seimstudios your comment comes across as arrogant. IMO experienced photographers focus on capturing the widest lattitude of light that best suits their vision giving them the most to work with in post process. Everyone has a workshop -- even me 20 years ago -- it doesn't make you an authority. The whole point in photography is there are infinite ways to do it, express yourself.

Thanks. I watch Tony all the time. Maybe I'm just bitter because I don't get sponsorships because I too honest lol

HDR can be natural as I talk about in Shadow Hackers but I hear you. And sometimes LoFi is just what an image needs.

Yes but If you expose for shadows with zones in mind blown highlights are not a problem

@@Seimstudios You'll have to give a bit more detail about why blown highlights would not be a problem if you 'expose for shadows with zones in mind', and what exactly you have in mind. I would suggest that you're best off trying to get the actual highlights (that is, the brightest part of the scene) at 100%, either by ETTR with the histogram or by spot metering of the highlights with appropriate EC or meter calibration (or highlight mode, if you have it). That means that every part of the scene will have the biggest exposure that it can without blowing the highlights, which automatically means that your shadows are as good as they can be.

@@BobN54 These are things to join one of my Shadow Hackers live workshops for as we discuss more nuance.

appreciate it

Glad you enjoyed it!

Indeed. Though I have a video here on the channel explaining why ETTR is not the best method. Once you apply zones in your exposures it's unnecessary and usually results in lower quality exposures.

Thanks. And yes, running down a couple zones is something I do a lot. It changes the entire game while everyone else is telling to you ETTR ;) Next Shadow hackers is something soon...seimeffects.com/shadowhackers

I try not to let any app auto ajust. But it's still hard to get attention on social media when we're competing wuth Ai fakery constantly

Yeap. AI will take out a lot of fun from this world. Not only in photography, but in general

Indeed. People think film is all about being a hipster. But it's actually an ongoing class in technique, artists elements, color theory and shadow all in one

@@Seimstudios Couldn't put it better in words. It's an education.