Exposure Technique

[@ChrisProuse]

Happy birthday Ted!!! Thumbs-up for Ted’s birthday everyone! 👍

[@kevinparkes417]

It's worth remembering that Edward Curtis and his contemporaries were shooting without the benfit of exposure meters (which didn't really start to appear until the 1930s); and they were shooting on plate cameras where they quite possibly would have had to make their own photographic plates using raw chemistry. The amazing photos of Curtis and others of the era are a testiment to the incedible skill of these photographers.

[@davidburns9471]

Curtis was an extraordinary photographer whose documentation of the American natives in both still photography and motion picture film remains one of the most impressive (I would say THE most impressive!) photographic documentary projects ever undertaken. I do not think though that he ever used the wet plate (collodion) process, as by the time he was pursuing his project, glass dry plates and a little later film were available for him. He did often process these in a tent in the field though, so he was still carrying a darkroom and chemistry with him, as his predecessors who had to use wet plates were forced to do! He is one of my great photographic heroes!

[@alcibiades79]

Very valid point made. Unfortunately for younger people, marketing often kills the "freedom" of thought. If one takes photographs as an artist the outmost goal is to portray "the mood" and your "interpretation of the truth" and exposure is critical for that... Many great photographers underexposed on purpose - very true.

[@stevebtny8655]

Happy Birthday Ted ! It's my bithday too and I've turned 21. Thanks for all you do for us amateurs of photography.

[@theartofphotography]

Happy birthday to you too!

[@stevebtny8655]

@@theartofphotography thank you !

[@ellieb.5657]

you re an oldschool heart, with modern tools, and I love that

[@trevor9934]

As always a well-considered and informative video - THANK YOU!! I have been directing some of my students to this! So many photographers assume that the camera will capture what we see, but a photograph is never a representation of our reality - and certainly, dynamic range is one of those elements. I have a much-loved print of a back-lit koala from 40 years ago: shot with a Nikon F3 on Ektachrome 200. The camera + film + paper could not cope with the strong DR, and it something I look at on my wall (still there for personal reasons) yet wish I had today's tech to take that same shot... I am a great fan of Sean Tucker (another You Tuber, do you know of him?) A very humble guy, he is not only IMHO a great photographer, but a great philosopher. He created two very good videos: Protect Your Highlights and Embrace Your Shadows, and another on how he shoots manual for his street shots. Sean is not your conventional street photographer: she shoots play of light, people not so much (although his portraits are excellent).

[@fintux]

I think that the point is to get as much information as possible at the moment of taking the photo, and then to adjust the image in post-processing to match the artistic vision. That will reduce the amount of noise, banding etc. in the image. This mean shooting in raw format (probablye quite obvious for most) and quite often also over-exposing the image (not burning out the brightest areas, but compared to what the desired end result is). The downside is that you must remember yourself how you wanted the scene to look. Another option is to shoot two different variants of the scene. One is to maximize the amount of information, and the other is to capture the scene how it is desired after post-processing.

[@lordbleh]

Man, I just love listening to you talk about stuff like this. I am just a hobbyist novice photographer and your way of seeing things make me feel like you're a teacher I have never had. Much respect, sir.

[@jurgenthebeagle6066]

A great English sports photographer from the late 50s onwards was Gerry Cranham. Gerry has some amazing images where you can see he played with exposure to bring more art to sports photography. Worth looking him up and some images like the 'hopping goalkeeper' from the FA Cup. Truly beautiful work.

[@UncleTerry1001]

This really is the "Art" of Photography after all, and thank you for giving us your insight- literally on exposure and vision.

[@ForestRoute]

Ted, I love when you make this sort of video. It's why I subscribed to the channel years ago. It's becoming rarer to see videos that discuss how photographic technique informs artistic intent (and vice versa) so it's very encouraging to see you continue to create content like this.

[@peterivarsson9267]

I agree, I always challenge myself to capture the actual level of light in a scene rather than trying to get the ideal histogram as it is designed for a grey area in broad daylight. That is usually not a typical scene for me. Great vid!

[@gregoryroscoe3818]

Though you did talk about exposure you seemed to hammer home the previsualization in post. For me, the most important part of exposure is ensuring you have all the info you need in the image- be it digital or film to execute your vision in post.

[@Camrographer]

I'm on the same page with you. Knowing one's camera intimately is essential to creating a work which reflects one's vision. Furthermore deciding how to crop and orient the image has a huge impact on context. I usually have a Lightroom preset which I try before I do anything. I usually crank the highlight and shadow recovery to appraise the image as a whole. Then, I will use Lightroom like a sculpting tool to emphasize/de-emphasize areas of an image. Lastly I do notice that My D810 shoots on the warm side when it comes to the outdoors. If it was colors consistent throughout my situations I'd just use the White balance compensation but it's not.

[@Camrographer]

@Text me on telegram@TedForbes Thank you Ted! I'll have to figure out Telegram lol.

[@DandGBears]

An old photographer (who shot slides on a manual focus camera with centered weighted metering) once told me when metering late in the day under exposure the meter by half a stop. It will bring out the richness of colors and the drama of late afternoon light. You know what it works when you shoot JPGS as well. 😉

[@MLodge]

This is the beauty of manual exposure: artistic choices! Great point to make and a key tool. Also much simpler and faster than automated exposure modes.

[@savagefrieze4675]

Thanks Ted. Miss my Gossen Luna Pro…

[@TheCourtaud]

I think owning a Fujifilm mirrorless camera has helped me learn how to control exposure quite a lot. Having the X-T3 led me to getting a fully manual film camera as I feel more confident in what my adjustments will give me in the end. I had a Nikon digital camera, which I almost always kept in aperture priority mode, which was nice, but I feel like I ended up not learning much by letting the camera do more for me. Cheers!

[@WMedl]

There is no reason not to have used your Nikon in full manual mode (as there is no reason to use Fuji in full auto mode). Just the dials are somewhat different!

[@omniart5714]

X-A7 user here, and you are right

[@ellieb.5657]

definitely agree, mirrorless technology is friendlier to the entry level users than dslr, which leads to better understand how manual works, it's fast and get you more familiar with the art of photography

[@TheCourtaud]

@@WMedl I totally get that. I'm just saying Fujifilm's layout helped me understand adjusting this, does this, and so on. I got the Nikon with zero understanding of cameras or the Nikon system. So I wasn't properly connecting my adjustments to what they were actually doing to my exposures.

[@WMedl]

@@TheCourtaud That is fine for you! But the same set of automatic and semi-automatic modes are supported by fuji. The lack of understanding and activity for getting understanding csnnot be blamed on "PASM"immersa.

[@philhodgkinson1460]

I am pretty much reading from the same page... I would never let post process auto adjust stuff not really my scene...there is a danger of lowering the brightness too much and losing contrast..but I understand about bringing up sky/water detail up.... A friend with a photo print shop does my printing and I stand alongside him while doing some adjustments... he has large 12 colour printer and finished result is at one with exhibition standard.... I am not a newbie...do like your videos and talks a lot bud., well done... Good job...

[@aes53]

The blown-out sky of Curtis and other Western photographers images is due in large part to the fact that, prior to the 20th century, they were using orthochromatic emulsions which had a very nonlinear response across the color range. They were much more sensitive to blue so the sky was over exposed. While this can probably be couched in terms of dynamic range it’s really a little bit different.

[@porty65]

AWESOME LESSON. I think that seeking to execute EMOTION and MOOD in an image makes it more enjoyable for the viewer, and more satisfying to the photographer who is taking the image.

[@carlmcneill1139]

Most people starting out don't know a lot about photography. I know I didn't. They'll use auto mode for their pictures not knowing that the camera is programmed to do general photography and doesn't know what you're wanting in your pictures. You can almost say the same thing about editing software as you demonstrated. Lightroom, and others, will give you a general exposure based on what it thinks it needs for the scene. I normally hit the auto button just to see what it gives me and then adjust from there. I use auto white balance in my z6 II and I usually prefer what it gives me instead of auto wb in LR. In fact, LR gets the wb wrong a lot. And I don't just mean for my taste. I mean its way 9f2f a lot of times. It's better for me too tweak it myself. But it's not just beginners doing this. I see a lot of local photographers doing portraits for people that haven't taken the time to learn their camera and most use presets instead of learning how to edit. There's like 3 different photographers around here whose photos all look the same with that yellowish/brownish preset. It's not sepia.

[@peterlewis3038]

Fantastic to see and be told that, what I like is ok and is in fact perfectly acceptable. I prefer images that are "underexposed" as well. The images that you edited were exactly to my taste in their completed forms. Thank you for the confirmation that how I want the final image to look is the right choice, as it is my image at the end of the day.

[@catherinepeloton4446]

From Paris France. Thank you for your channel. When Iwas 14 my biggots parentd didn't want me to invite boys at home so I pretended I was fascinated by photography and they let me go in photography club and I fell in love with photography and not with the sexy teachers now I am 65 a retired teacher and I wanted to go back to study the new pixels cameras but vecause of the pandemic it was impossible BUT I discovered your channel YOUR ARE A FREE TEACHER FOR EVERYBODY thank you also for your clear english I'm rather used to the London english accent and yet Ican understand all you explain.Have a good day.

[@Menosfilms]

What helped me understand exposure was making overexposed pictures and then shooting night street photography. That’s when I started realizing what I needed to do to recover data In post.

[@juliocesarpereira4325]

i fully agree with you. The photographer has to determine the final result of the photos. For example, I like to use spot metering when I photograph flowers or macro because of the contrast. I also adjust the exposure. With a mirrorless camera, I have the help of live histogram reading of the scene. My mirrorles cameras are very humble, but I like them a lot: a Samsung NZ-300 and a Canon EOS M50. I apply this to all cameras, either DSLRs, Point & Shoot or SLRs. I have a Sony WX-100 and I found a way to deceive its automatic metering system in order to get more vivid and colorful pictures. And so it goes...

[@rbennett0721]

I basically only photograph landscapes and live music, both of which have incredibly difficult lighting, so I stick to full manual. I've learned, on the technical side, that it's WAY easier to save details from dark areas than it is light. Even as a stylistic choice, I think it's fine to lose detail in the darks, because focal points are nearly always in lighter portions of the image. There's definitely a balance that needs to be found and the context of the focal point that needs to be taken into consideration, but I find underexposed images more engaging. That's why I either shoot for a full dynamic range that clips in the darks (so I have more options in post) or just shoot way underexposed.

[@WMedl]

That depends - the focal point can be the dark areas - the extreme is a silhouette back lit image! For landscape there is almost no reason to shoot in automatic mode, for live music it can be but as far as I am concerned I shoot manual in street, wildlife and horse races photograqhy...

[@valdiskrebs566]

@Robbie B birds of a feather … I follow the same approach. … really like the look.

[@faarfirmus4131]

Hi Ted, I always use manual and expose the histogram as far to the right as possible without clipping any colour channel. This is because the histogram is not linear and most of the detail capture occurs on the right. As you show, I darken in post processing to return to the mood I saw during the shoot but my darks are not too muddy and will contain detail. I can always remove detail in post but you can never put it in if you didn't capture it in the first place. If the dynamic range of the scene is even greater than my Nikon Z7 can handle, then I take more than one exposure and blend them in post processing. I even do this for street photography where I am hand holding. I expose for the subject and then, once the subject has passed, I take two more exposures, one for the highlights and one for the darks. I use the subject exposure as reference and brighten the under exposure for the highlights to match and darken the over exposure for the darks to match too. Some cameras have automation that allows bracketing of exposure, which is the same idea. I guess my aesthetic seeks details in the darks. I want to see those textures in your black shirt without blowing the highlights.Yes, this takes more time and effort but, for me, the results are more pleasing. Others may not agree, and that's ok, I'm only trying to please me ;-)

[@TheStutenberg]

Here it‘s great to understand the zone system. You can then use the spot meter of your camera to decide in which zone you want to place this shadow or this highlight or whatever. You‘ll catch the real dynamic of the light a lot better. Even if the camera will not perfectly replicate it you will still recognise the vibe that you could from the scene.

[@guipe43]

Happy Birthday and God bless! Thank you for your videos!

[@DrewPera]

Great video. This is part of the reason I love my Z fc with all the manual dials. I often will under expose because that’s what I had in mind.

[@samsargdong1135]

Hi,thanks for the interesting video. Your video has made me remind of a video I saw one week ago. In the video the reviewer said that he preferred to shoot with a prime lens much more than with a zoom lens because with a prime lens you have to make decisions before shooting ( anticipating the scene);and be more accurate when composing. A zoom lens that opens you a variety of possible shootings makes you be more lazy and therefore less creative when going to shoot. This can be related to automatic/ semiautomatic exposure both in camera and in Light room because the fact that in theory one has a lot of resources to tweak exposure makes you adopt quick decisions with sometimes little criteria about the most creative options in the exposure of your photos.

[@artemsapegin]

The photo you had on the screen before you started showing photos looks very interesting!

[@stuartbaines2843]

Wise Words Ted 👌 Thinking before pressing the shutter button.

[@markdavis911time]

SSCC (Simple Settings for Creative Control): I started taking pictures some 45 years ago and cameras have become so complex these days, with a myriad of controls and adjustments but I honestly think the very best thing anyone can do with a modern DSLR/Mirrorless camera, is pare it back to basics - full manual, choose your ISO and balance shutter speed & aperture for effect. If you want to learn to play keyboard better, you don't switch on 'Auto Arpeggio' mode, so why do the equivalent with a camera?

[@grantmedical]

Fantastic video tutorial as usual Ted... I have a "style formula" that starts first with "correcting" the white balance... then I focus on the exposure characteristics of my subject... then and only then I work on tweaking the color and clarity (again with my subject taking priority)... My main focus is on color accuracy and then adjusting luminosity to create the "mood"... Love your work... Thanks ever so much for continuing your journey of "demystifying" our art form for everyone...

[@HamiltonSRink]

Very useful teaching! Much appreciated! Thanks!

[@ericleeburkert]

Edward Curtis is my favorite!! (have his portrait tattooed on me!) The man captured people and their life so beautifully.

[@jeffs7066]

Happy birthday Ted!

[@Daniel_Zalman]

These are my favorite kinds of videos.

[@lesfisher8941]

Photoshop author Martin Evening maintains it doesn't hurt to click on the Auto button to start with when you first open an image, it's a good starting point and then take it from there.

[@thomastuorto9929]

In the beginning you mentioned maybe a beginner might let the camera make choices or rely on the camera more than they probably should. I think that most who want to achieve great work & do this just don't know. When I got my first camera (Canon AE-1) I had no idea. Just used the meter with it on auto & turned the aperture ring until I as close to zero on the internal light meter. It came with a small second pamplet type book that gave me couple of ideas that I breezed through after about a year. No internet back then & had no idea how creative photography could be or I would of signed up for a college coarse. If it wasn't for me watching you tube & reading a forum almost everyday before finally purchasing my digital camera, I would still be doing the same. Anyway, enough rambling. What I want to know is why you chose your exposure settings that you did on those beautiful photos from that Book store lounge from a couple of vids ago. As always great vid!

[@seamanjive]

I set up my OMD EM10 to replicate the features (or lack of...) on my Olympus OM2n. Shooting with adapted vintage OM Zuiko primes I'm effectively running a digitised Olympus OM film camera and transferring skills to analogue.

[@davecrissinger8967]

Agree with the video. Today, too many people are focused on what the eye af can do. They tend to forget about what Photography is. If you don't get the exposure you want, then eye af doesn't matter. I know it goes hand and hand, but too many Photography KZbinrs focus on the gear and I think that takes away from the creativity. You are a Creator and not a gear chaser. Thanks for the education!

[@williamsingman1489]

Hi Ted Your videos are always thoughtful, concise and inspiring. I enjoy watching them very much. Lately I’ve been honing my skills with black and white digital images which I find more challenging to create. I do have a Leica M10 Monochrom which helps dealing with exposure challenges. Listening to your discussion regarding exposure and tonal or dynamic range my thoughts started drifting back to my days in the darkroom. Back then my mantra (ala Ansel Adams) while taking the image was “expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights after you decided what zone they should be placed in. It really worked. Black was black and white was white…no compromising. You probably already knew this, but Ansel Adams got into messing with Polaroid photos and I have his book called “singular images”. Oh BTW, I just purchased a Loupedeck CT after watching your video about the device. I’m using it with Capture One Pro and love it. Thanks

[@lewisjones4158]

Great stuff Ted. “Correct” exposure isn’t always what the photographer intends ☺️ Thanks for the video

[@MLodge]

Yes, it isn’t “correct” - there is no such thing as one correct exposure. There are only manifestly bad exposures.

[@collectGenX]

Have a great Birthday! Best photography teacher ever! Keep up the good work.

[@chunglinglo9687]

how come I just found out this? it is so helpful and well explained. also beautiful examples!

[@eyesonly4451]

Get a Mamiya RZ67 (without the metering prism) and start shooting Kodak E100. Learning to meter will ensue.

[@viewonce]

Love listening to your perspectives and ideas. It inspires me to be a more thoughtful photographer. Thank you

[@sandipmakhal1317]

Happy Birthday 🎉🎉🎉♥️!!! Really love your videos!

[@julianheritage6436]

Really interesting, especially your thought process Ted. Thank you

[@thormusique]

I always get so much out of your videos, thank you! I'm only a longtime amateur, but I heartily agree with everything you've said. Even though I've been using digital cameras for some years now (for the last couple of years a Pentax K-1), I still prefer doing what Ansel Adams advocated, which is to visualise the final image before making the picture, and to form my own impression of the scene before me. Perhaps the best thing about that is that I never snap willy-nilly, so that means I also end up not making a picture, even when it would've been so easy to use Full Auto mode. I mostly use Manual mode, and very occasionally Aperture Priority. I work almost exclusively in B&W, and I also prefer the sensibilities of a somewhat darker and higher contrast image. Once again, a great topic. And btw, your work is gorgeous. Cheers!

[@sigmagamer364]

i understand,that is why a true photographer must shoot in manual mode most of the time.I started serious photography with film camera eventhough people can easily buy digital.Film camera force me to think more.And when i use digital camera in manual mode,it's blissful.People who didn't use film camera in manual can't comfortably control in M mode especially in digital cameras because the interface is even more complicated.

[@AjaySingh-228]

Good Sir..Well Explained

[@stuartcarden1371]

Thank yoy for this. Since I'm a little old school by this point in my life, I find the modern obsession with dynamic range and showing all the detail all the time in images a little misguided. I'm happy to play with dark shadows or blown out skies for artistic effect. But so much of what I see nowadays seems almost scared of pushing anything "too far" which is a real shame. I use m4/3, which doesn't have great dynamic range by modern standards but there's still more than enough to do whatever I need, so I'm happy. Last thing, we all turn into "it was better in my day" don't we lol

[@wwebbs-photographer]

Learned a lot from this channel, and you keep pushing it. So good! Keep up the great work Ted.

[@JamesBoyer-plus]

Thank you for another thought-provoking video, Ted. I'm exploring similar ideas in my own photography right now as I learn to shoot film. I use a mirrorless camera (Panasonic GX9, 25mm f/1.7) as a proxy to explore the creative possibilities of a scene and then reshoot it using a vintage film camera (Leica M3, Summilux 50mm). I limit my ISO and shutter speed on the modern camera to what I can shoot on the film camera and use a combination of the histogram and a handheld incident meter to begin to understand and develop my eye for the exposures that I'm after creatively. I've also gotten my hands on a Leica III from the 1930s and I'm thinking of pairing it up with my G9 for a similar series of exercises.

[@maxwell1usa]

I would really like for you to bring back the photo assignments...it was so much fun, is there a chance to do that again?

[@jaydeepbharat8736]

You are amazing sir 📸🙏🏻

[@shyamalganguly3598]

Absolutely true about what you have said in the context of exposing a scene and during the days of films you'd to undergo a lot of workmanship to get to expose correctly in a range of shades of highlights and contrast to a shot along with the mood that you want to work with and then you had to maneuver a lot in the dark room if you have to be more accurate to get the desired effect!! But today we have digitisation and light room and such to be able to get the desirable effect but surely the picture taker is the last person to decide what he wants to convey and modern cameras are so advanced and equipped with technology along with the supporting apps have given you a flexibility like never before and your final results are nothing but astonishing!! But depending on the camera auto modes sometimes needed to get a shot not creating anything but a record and a familiarity with your equipment sometimes give with work out of those records helps to make some good ones from the nothingness of photographs!!

[@paololarocca7684]

good points, that is one of the reasoms I don't enjoy smartphone photography

[@alexanderpons9246]

Great topic Ted Forbes! It is a great idea to look back at what others have created before without the technology we now have. Thanks for all you share through your wonderful channel!

[@ianknight422]

This is why I always try and edit as close to when I took the image as possible, so I don't forget what the scene looked like at the time, as my memory tends to drift over time.

[@virginiainla8085]

Film still looks better to me than digital. I shoot both but can't make the digitals look nearly as good EXCEPT in low available light situations.

[@gregs2466]

I enjoy your videos and I feel they are more on the intellectual side of looking at photography. Watching this video and hearing your opinion, we are both similar thinking. I always shoot Manuel and when doing landscapes, I used to go to Aperture Priority but I did not like it. I enjoy making my photos the way I saw them or what my thoughts were at the time of capture. Sounds like you have some nice cameras and I have some desires for fantasy cameras but right now I shoot Canon with a 5D IV and a R5. It took me awhile to leave my DSLR but I do find I like the mirrorless more and more but I do make myself use the 5DIV on occasion. I watch your vids every time they come out.

[@filibertkraxner305]

Nice video Ted :-) I used to shoot a lot of slide film back in the day, which forced you to decide where you wanted to retain detail (shadows or highlights), because of the limited dynamic range. Learned to previsualize that way, which still helps me today. I'm a manual exposure only guy, even on the latest cameras.

[@brandizenintikaryapt5704]

I never thought about exposure more than when shooting Kodachrome 25 hand held outdoors. Followed by the joy of maybe getting 30 keepers back in a box of slides. Tell that to the kids today and they won't believe you.

[@TheTenerifeVibe]

Great explanation Ted, good skills

[@michaelchrist4297]

Fantastic video! Really enjoy your approach regarding technical aspects of photography and your explanation of photographic art! Really appreciate it, awesome!

[@stuartmeador8993]

I often ask..."who is going to sign your print? You ? or Nikon?" (Canon, Sony, etc)

[@Shanesshiit]

This is basically my process for editing. I rarely find the camera gets it right, but close enough for those moments that you can't predict!

[@seralegre]

I've been taking pictures for 12 years, over 100k pictures, 2y art school, aaand every year i change the way i think about exposition and how i calculate it and what i want to express with exposition. So good luck everybody

[@kilimanjoro]

Thank you, I like the intellectual approach to the subjects that you post, you have excellent delivery and speech and I like listening to your videos . Very interesting

[@lcador9]

Would have been nice if you had included some mention of local adjustments besides your application ofglobal adjustments to your selected images.

[@tudora5498]

Great and informative video, thanks a lot! I found the first example image amazing: on the original image, all my attention was drawn to the ladder, which was, as you said, not your intent. As soon as you started playing with the exposure, the focus naturally shifted to the cloud reflection. I think that this is an excellent example of what you are stating in the video.

[@takundamusonza6753]

Wow this was very helpful, thanks Ted👍

[@anne-mariejane4595]

As awlayes Ted, great video content that nevers fails to have the viewer self inquirer further.

[@JordanTelezino]

great discussion. There is a right way, there is a wrong way and then there is an artistic way

[@WMedl]

When encountered the zone system of Ansel Adams I learned to shoot manual and I stuck to it. But digital especially mirrorless cameras provide me with valuable informations especially the Histogram which tells me whether an image is within the dynamic range of the camera - if so I am more careless and postpone my decisions to post processing. In difficult lightning situations I still use the zone system where I can directly convey my aesthetic decisions to the exposure settings - with the velocity of moving motifs as a sometimes big interfering parameter. To rely on that what the screen (and EVF) offers can be very deceptive - especially when shooting in Raw because those are provisional jpegs.

[@jw0001]

Thanks for all your information

[@DennisSwansonP1022]

Very nice video Ted!

[@robertwhitemoto]

Good stuff Ted! Thanks.

[@justinoblanco]

Great video. Thanks for doing this! I always love seeing a notification for your channel. Given that my photos are mostl... (let's be honest here) only ever viewed on Twitter and Instagram, I have a tendency push the exposure a bit. The last thing I want is for my photo to look like a black rectangle on the viewer's phone. It's annoying that this even enters my mind, but the medium is what it is.

[@Rus_T_Knuckles]

long time lurker first time leaving a comment lol, First of all Happy Birthday. Another Amazing Video keep up the Wonderful Work..

[@mouse3355]

I'm so attached to Exposure Compensation dial since I'm using it with almost every shot I make, it certainly be the first camera part to fail I'm sure! XD

[@1992garyd]

Love your work and love your videos! Thank you for contributing so much to the community. If you could recommend some textbooks for some people that couldn’t attend school and want to self study which ones would you recommend? Thank you!

[@michaelgabrielgarcia1004]

Never knew there was an auto! Interesting that you applied your tweaks on top of the auto vs resetting the image. Side note i completely agree with this video! Always keep in mind your intent and stay creative my friends!

[@garys639]

Another well spent 11:50 mins. A thoughtful and thought provoking, intelligent, engaging and artstic American...almost an oxymoron. Bless you.

[@bradleyzimmerman4184]

I almost wish that for a solid year all digital cameras would only shoot in standard JPEG and all editing programs would fail to comply. Boy oh boy would that be something to witness! Off topic? Or is it? ;)

[@matthieuzglurg6015]

I have two fairly old Fuji cameras that don't really go well in low light (X-T1 and original X100), so I tend to push my histogram to the right, without crushing the higlights. I shoot RAW only almost all the time, and I correct everything in lightroom afterwards, that's just my way of exposing to losse the least dynamic range possible. I always end up underexposing a bit my pictures anyway

[@bronzepodcast]

I am also photographing too dark for my camera. I like darker images, contrast is life.

[@olegvorkunov5400]

I have A7C and I struggle with exposure. I shoot in Aperture Priority and most of my daylight images are clipping, even though I have Weighted exposure settings. For example, when I took pictures of white swans, all of them were clipping in RAW and I could not recover them. Bringing highlights and whites down, only made it gray and there were no details whatsoever. And I do not have too much time to adjust camera settings during these shots, so I rely on the camera to figure out proper shutter speed and ISO and I set it to Fast. Not sure what else could I do. I even had some shots ruined in low-light situations where there was a clipping of some lighted areas. Maybe I should turn off Face-priority for exposure? I just cannot find the best way to do it. Maybe I should start playing with the Exposure compensation dial and always set it to -1.

[@Krooks44]

I like this video alot. My saying is the perfect picture isnt always perfect. For me if I get a feeling from a photo that isnt tack sharp or perfectly composed but I am moved by it then its a perfect photo. For me at least...

[@Andrea_Manconi]

For some reason, I've always preferred shooting underexposed photos: I am still correcting myself when I tweak for a balance.

[@bassangler73]

Im still shooting a dslr ☺ i shoot birds in flight 99% of the time with a D500 and I have always tried to shoot as you said, I want the image to look like my eye seen it...So if your a new photographer glue the camera in manual mode and learn your camera!!

[@kuang-hanhuang3549]

Thank you for the great video! Just curious, do you normally start with the results of “auto” in Lightroom and then tweak your images?

[@hcp0scratch]

It sounds to me that the best option might be to take the image which provides the maximum data available through the entire range, which will allow me to post process as I see fit more effectively. So I would say ETTR without clipping, then have a blast with all that data in your post-processing.

[@danfiorephotos]

Ted, great topic and insight. Thanks as always for your videos & happy Thanksgiving.

[@CreativePixelPhotos]

Another good video. Totally agree on way too much 'auto' everywhere. Also love my old D700 with its limited dynamic range.

[@김윤식-y8c]

as always, great stuff!