Getting it Right in Camera: Ep 235: Digital Photography 1 on 1

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In this episode Mark takes us through his creative process to see if it's possible to get it right in camera. Join Mark in the studio for a hands-on demonstration that shows how he uses photography fundamentals to achieve his final images. Does he get what he wants? Is it possible to get it right in camera? Watch and find out.

[@oceandrew]

Great great great video on what the camera can and can't capture. It helped me solidify my understanding of the limitations of digital capture. Thanks a million.

[@effinyess9536]

If I’m not mistaken images get softened on purpose by the manufacturers. Also RAW images are flat in order to capture data. Binary code might be beautiful to some but I prefer to adjust images as to look good on a screen or paper respectively.

[@TheMdjak]

Mark, your videos are so well thought out and executed. Thank you. I always learn a lot from them.

[@zygotepeyote]

You got it right..sometimes post is needed and sometime it isn't. All depends on the individual looking at it.

[@TopherTheLost]

The generations of photographers, pre digital photographers, still did post in the darkroom and in the 80's and 90's with the airbrush too. Way back in school we had a darkroom in our art department. I learned rudimentary post work such as dodging and burning only to find those same tools again decades later in photoshop.

[@pef23]

Really interesting and informative. Thanks a bunch for all your great work always.

[@subjectb]

I stand by you Mark. There's technically correct exposure and creatively correct (Bryan Peterson) exposure.

[@801ruben1]

My opinion is that if You know your ways around camera and light, you can absolutely produce a CREATIVELY correct image on camera. Of course you can, is not that difficult. Specially in studio.

[@notursweetie]

Agree. Photography should teach us patience. Before we press the shutter button we should work out every detail of our pictures. Yes, I do processed images in Photoshop! Always! But when we said "oh, doesn't matter, I'll fix it later in Photoshop" it teaches us negligence and lack of respect for our own work. We said "oh, I don't have time for adjusting this photo, I'll fix it later" and then we waste time sitting at the computer, instead of photographing and creating beauty in this time!

[@RyanGenereaux]

Is this a podcast I can subscribe to or is it KZbin only? These videos are pretty awesome: Professional but simple enough for a new photographer like me to understand

[@bustersgotavmax]

Very good tutorial. Photography is a hobby for me and I know I never nail the exposieur perfectly in my shoots.I always need some room to play with in post production,that's if I want to get the look I want. I think Mark could have explained that the camera sees a world of grey when it comes to exposieur and that the camera wants to adjust to grey.

[@fotostefanro]

Every one should ask itself these question. And I believe the answer will be different for one person to another

[@Claggy]

Great video, Mark!

[@hoorayforpentax3801]

I don't think it's possible to ALWAYS get it right in camera, but I know that since I started shooting RAW, there have been some shots that I've put through to the JPEG conversion queue without alteration. It's possible, but you need the right light and the right equipment to either generate it or capture it or both. It all depends on what your standards are for that shot - for casual happy-snaps the bar is lower and I have far more unaltered keepers; stuff that I'm doing for others, even casually, far more often gets tweaks before going to JPEG conversion.

[@maderaedwin]

Mark you are the beats teacher

[@Solarfactor]

What you're referring to is called diffraction, which is a loss of detail that occurs at narrow apertures of f/16-f/22. It isn't something you should worry about. Bryan Peterson talks about this in his book, Understanding Exposure, and explains how it has never been a problem for him in his 35+ years as a photographer.

[@simianinc]

Out of curiosity - did you set the custom white balance in the camera before taking the photo?

[@MrPrivatbruger]

This is a keeper video!

[@terenas1986]

I have a question to all, regardless from the video. Am I right to think that it's possible that when shooting with smaller Apertures (e.g. f/22) I get less sharp images than when I'm shooting with e.g. f/5.6? I'm especially asking this because I've read such things about lens, especially cheaper Kit lenses. Mark, maybe you could make an episode about the differences between cheaper, "normal" price and professional equipment? :) Thanks, Andrew

[@deesdpkm]

I have always more than enough learnings to take out from your videos. Awesome learning with absolute exemplification. :-)

[@solidstream13]

Thanks Mark, I will continue to shoot RAW and use Lightroom

[@StevenvanderGraaf]

I guess if you had the D800 you would have been using that for this vid Marc? Awsome dynamic range

[@markharris5771]

Post editing is nothing new, when talking about 'Moonrise over Hernandez' Mr Adams said: "Thirty seconds in the camera, six weeks in the darkroom." However, I think we should get as much right as possible in camera, think about your composition, get as much data as possible, look out for bits of rubbish in the frame, watch the highlights for blowing etc etc.

[@landgod2001]

If you have followed all of the videos Mark talks about both Raw+Jpg or Raw or Jpg. 6:42 Mark says he is shooting everything in Raw what part are you talking about that was for Jpg other then 11:06 when Mark starts to talk more about what the camera can do with color values?

[@surferboy36O]

I certainly have taken correct pictures creatively and exposure wise in the camera. They are rare I must say, specially because of how electronic sonsors capture light, you have to have very precise lighting conditions and contrast, but I have done it, and I am a perfectionist, believe me! It was much easier in film, I could take any picture and BAM, spot on!

[@goover78]

Very interesting! Love watching your video's!

[@rpavich]

Mark, Why did the light meter get the exposure incorrect?

[@zygotepeyote]

Great video if you are taking pics of zebras! A 5000.00 D3s was at least two stops off and I'm sure a Canon would be as well. I don't think clients are going to take your images and check the value of your whites and blacks. However, I get your point Mark and I also think that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, not the pixel peeper. Good tech stuff though!

[@flaviopresutti]

Hey Teacher.. great demonstration ! Greetings from Uruguay

[@TJRohyans]

I think Mark shows that there is a difference between getting it 'technically' right in camera, which appears to be impossible, and getting it 'subjectively' right in post production. As a Photographer, you/we are Artists. Painters of Light. What is 'right' to us, may not be 'right' to someone else. It is subjective.

[@shivorath]

I would say "getting it right" means getting what you, the photographer, wanted. In the case of the majority of photographers this can be described with specific RGB values for certain things, especially things like flesh tones. Especially photographer's who have to work for clients, where art has to take a back seat to aesthetically pleasing photos.

[@mpc967]

Mark, you are fantastic You explain little things very perfectly Do u visit India ? or R U having any franchisee in India

[@terenas1986]

That's about right and what I think too... but I do believe that this is Mark's own opinion of the matter that he simply just shared with us... and our own opinions are our own. (Regardless from that I share your views in this.) :)

[@DaveDugdaleColorado]

Good one Mark. Dave

[@kunaljain1986]

such a good video!

[@notursweetie]

I mean its easier to get some details in underexposured photo than on overexposured photo. When you develop RAW it has always some reserve on both sides of histogram, but there is more reserve on blacks than on highlights. I don't mean that every photo must has got details on blacks, middle-tones and highlights, it depends of the picture we want to get an yes, it depends on our creativity etc.

[@surferboy36O]

The way you are setting the experiment you will mostly never get perfect blacks and whites at the same time cause they are both reflective surfaces under the same light, and they both reflect/absorb some porcentage of the total recieved light, it will never be 0% or 100%, you know that because just as you showed they vary with exposure. You would have to have some shadows like the trap box, or highlights like shiny stuff or something lit from another source.

[@deveroful]

fantastic vid thanks

[@Bretandmarisa]

use medium format \m/ more dynamic range?

[@LomoMop]

i know but shooting raw get the best of the cameras dynamic range, colors are not lost ether. but its his preference .

[@AllKnowingPhotog]

Photography has ALWAYS been a mix of art and science. White balance, dodge/burn: those are not new terms they are from the film days. The best shot in camera is never finished until you develop it in the darkroom or today in a computer program. I hate to say this but there are even "rules" in art. If you violate the rules of art you either need to have something so awesome that rules don't yet explain or you must be willing to be rejected by your peers.

[@tadeobiologo]

It´s the digital equivalence to Ansel Adam´s negatives. the only thing that have changed is we use electronics and software instead of silver halides and chemical kinetics... get the right negatives and then work them to get the copy as you want it to look.

[@Argyll9846]

I think this one is on the money. The old 'masters', such as Adams, spent hours if not days manipulating their images in the darkroom, so I don't see what the big deal is with people thinking post production is a no no. Having been brought up on film and done a lot of work in the darkroom, I totally agree with marks argument and you're never going to get it 100% right in camera, but who knows what the future holds.

[@nunolopeslourenco]

Anyone knows what lens model is being used ?

[@niftyfiftyphoto]

Nother good video!

[@leoabreuphoto]

Lightroom ftw

[@LomoMop]

did he even change the white balance to manual to 3200 or is he just leaving everything in auto

[@rcfalcon56MkII]

"Photography is art and art means freedom of expression by whatever tool you need." You are correct, however, understanding the why of physical and aesthetic rules allows you to use them to your advantage and even break them effectively. RGB values alone do not define beauty, but knowing how they relate to it can facilitate obtaining the beauty you desire rather than a result that is not what you would consider beauty. Green skin in normally not considered beautiful.

[@pogi09282805724]

MYTHBUSTER: PHOTOGRAPHER EDITION! :)

[@KCPhotography2010]

i agree!

[@rpavich]

No...I don't think that's what he meant...he meant shooting so as to get all the elements correct and so that no added work was necessary to achieve the shot desired.

[@Dinahhs3]

Thanks

[@oceandrew]

"Getting it right" from a photojournalistic point of view, ie. events or sports, is different from a product, lifestyle, fashion or even fine art point of view. From the former's perspective you have to get it right in camera but in the latter that's only the starting point.

[@notursweetie]

You are wrong.Try to take overexposure and then underexposure photo (in raw of course). If you get some burnouts,it is really hard to get it right(usually places which was burnout comes as weird shades of greenishgrey). Ex: i41.tinypic. com/2uek6iu . Raw has got more reserve on left (blacks) than on right (highlights). If you underexposure your photo usually just change the Blacks slider to the left and gently Exposure slider to the right. It gets better results, than use Recovery slider.

[@Maxsdiscos]

He's Mark, not Jared.

[@Kakkasaari]

It didn't, the first shot was underexposed, the one with the light meter was correctly exposed and the last one was overexposed.

[@BernieKohl]

I guess by "getting it right in camera" the questioner meant photographing TIFFs or JPEGs like some event or sports photographers do.

[@TopherTheLost]

The light meter exposes for middle grey, not the whites or blacks.

[@Rezaroth]

thats a shock

[@GeeTee_]

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 :)

[@guffygolfer]

It would be nice to have the camera do it all, but it can't. I defy someone take a great landscape photo getting the full dynamic range of 10 stops from absolute white(use to be called paper white) and absolute black. Film didn't do it and neither does digital. Along came HDR and solved the problem. The film masters like Weston and Adams post processed the heck out of their negatives and positives. Dodging, burning, temperature changes, etc. etc. etc.

[@NormanVsNorman]

Best. Comment. Ever.

[@bwilliamblock]

The D3s came darn close.

[@MSCSphoto]

well then if you are using auto white balance you are doing more wrong than right... where each photo could need a different amount of adjustment. if you shoot in auto I will guess you shoot in P mode too ? to get it right ...auto should not be used. If you know what your light source is ...use that as the default. if there is a mix and no time to do custom .. use what you think is close. and after you tweak the one image you know all shoot like that need the same shift.. if you use auto

[@kibbsnowden6893]

I liked the photo out of the camera better than the edited ones, I do edit my photo so that being said we all have different likes and dislikes... Who is right...

[@LomoMop]

what? y isnt he shooting in RAW

[@MaghoxFr]

Better than the arrogant opinion of a pro :D

[@solemgameinsights]

"Manuma mode"

[@TheDarkestOne37]

Most people who ask this question have never developed their own film.

[@tjschmal]

What do you mean by "getting it right" ? What does "perfection" mean ? How could one define beauty by RGB-values ? Generations of photographers made masterpieces without using Photoshop and on the other hand some great pictures wouldn't exist without postproduction. Photography is art and art means freedom of expression by whatever tool you need. Just the humble opinion of an amateur.

[@alantuttphotography]

I know this video is OLD, but I just found it. The main thing this test shows is that absolute black and absolute white do not exist in the real world. That's why the camera raw images don't go all the way to the edge of the histogram when "properly" exposed.

[@dukoduli]

what are you? a philosopher?

[@kauxkaux]

My opinion is tha you can shoot a correct exposure n camera, but you absolutely cannot produce a CREATIVELY correct image on camera

[@dh0570]

He's not defining beauty in this episode with technical aspects. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. He is just trying to point out that no camera exists that can technically get the colors correct across the board. It doesn't mean that you can't get gorgeous pictures without post production. Of course you can! He's merely providing data to prove no camera is color perfect and if you desire them to be, you need post production.

[@dhavidcg]

Getting it Right in Camera?? yes you can, but it need a lot of hard practice, even mark can't do it :p :p

[@r32lover0]

Thanks