Exposed // Bracketing vs ETTR

[@tdawg719]

This is the best explanation of exposing to the right. An added way I could describe it is that white is every color added together and black is none. So more color information is in the right

[@kevindiossi]

This was not only your most informative video, it was one of the most informative videos I have watched on KZbin in an extremely long time. I loved the way you broke this down and explained it.

[@likiroki]

Wow, it was exactly what I thought through the middle of the video. Nick Page this is my first time seeing you and I'm really glad.

[@Jeff-jg7jh]

@@likiroki After hearing about ETTR twenty times I still wasn't sure what it meant(not my fault, it was poor explanation). Pretty simple.

[@Wklambert]

This is one of those vids that I save off, so I can watch it several times. All the way up to the parking lot, right before I step out for my shoot, haha. Great info sir. Thank you.

[@Notso_Wild_Bill]

My mind is now blinkening, blendably, full. Thanks Stay safe.Peace

[@tonyhayes9827]

Sometimes Nick, you betray the fact, not only are you a creative person but intelligent as well. That's a wicked good combination. When left brain and right brain get together you get a beautiful mind.

[@ottersphotography304]

One of the best explanations for ETTR I have ever heard. Great information and great video. Thanks man.

This is the first time I've heard about how ISO 50 worked. I've been shooting all my photos at ISO 50... Well thankfully now I know. Better change it now then never. Great tips Nick. Thank you.

[@freetibet1000]

Remember though, the optimum iso is not always 100. For instance, the optimum iso for most professional cameras in the Nikon lineup has been 64 for the past 5 or 6 years at least, including D810, D850 and the Z lineup of cameras. But the same principles that Nick talks about do apply of course. Just not at the same numbers.

@@freetibet1000 I'm using the Sony fullframe system. Thanks for the heads up tho. If I ever change systems I'll have to keep that in mind.

[@freetibet1000]

@ Great! It helps to know what the optimum iso is for the actual camera model we use, not just the camera brand. For instance, not all Nikon cameras have iso 64 as the base iso either. And in the future this is likely to change for all camera brands and particular models again.

[@rauldeandrade]

ISO 50 gives you cleaner photos with more color depth at the expense of dynamic range. ISO 100 gives you maximum dynamic range but more grain. You should use ISO 100 for scenes with more extreme cases in shadows and highlights and use ISO 50 for "flatter" photos, or photos where you can bracket. I still use ISO 50 more often than ISO 100 for the color definition, but I expose them to the middle and not the right. I don't know how much color loss ISO 50 has on the edges of the histogram, but you can always be safe and take a shot in ISO 50 and one at ISO 100 as a backup, or vice versa. The great thing about digital is that we don't have to stick to one ISO. When I'm not sure and I can't bracket, I take both ISOs

[@AaronGodderis]

@@rauldeandrade Could you link a source of where you got this info? As far as I'm aware, ISO 50 wont give you any added benefit other than a lower exposure.

[@bobsheridan6692]

Great explanation with examples to illustrate when to use exposure bracketing and ETTR. Well done and thank you for your clarity.

[@keithpinn152]

Hi Nick: The information contained in this video, is without doubt the best explanation of when to use Exposure Blending vs. ETTR. This has been extremely helpful. Cheers, Keith (Canada)

[@stuartschaffner9744]

This video ia a real public service, since so few people seem to understand the great revolution in digital sensor design in the past 12 years. I might suggest that people try a variation on bracketing. Take the simple case where you need only, say, three extra stops. Take one image, exposed to the right. Make a copy with three stops of exposure gain. Then set your sharpening and noise reduction separately for each copy. This will give either grainier or less-sharp deep shadows. However the images will almost exactly register since they are copies.

[@michaeltitus7821]

Best exposure tip I have ever heard about putting the bulk your histogram in the highlight segment. I have been doing this for yours without articulating it the way you did here. Watching the histogram spread out when you adjust your highlights and shadows made the lights come on as to why I do what I do from years of trial and error.

[@nettskee1111]

That was the best explanation of "exposing for the highlights" that I've heard yet. Thank you!

[@livedeliciously]

As I'm progressing in my post processing education, Nick Page and Greg Benz are becoming my go to teachers.

[@Whoozit1]

Thank you so much for explaining ETTR in terms of depth of data capture. Lightbulb moment for me. It'll change the way I expose images.

[@epiieq1]

Not only are your images awesome, but the way you explain things is straightforward, clear, and easy to understand for most anyone. Bravo! It’s things like this that make me want to sign up for a workshop with you when that sort of thing starts up again.

[@NickPage]

I really appreciate that thank you.. some people try to sound wise when the speak.. I just try to get my info across with common simple language

[@Jacob-64]

Fantastic tutorial Mr Page ,been watching a lot of your videos over these last couple of weeks ,excellent . I'm new to photoshop and I'm finding it very daunting and I appreciate your videos so much . On a side note ,I normally loathe background music but I found your choice of music and volume level was perfection Sir ...

[@williamcurwen7428]

Yep, really good solid technique. Where I live the weather is often unpredictable from one minute to another were everything changes so fast. Over the years I have become to understand that my real subject matter is movement within the landscape. Movement of light, shadow, weather and material forms, and so I have learnt to incorporate all of that into my exposure technique and routines, often making hundreds exposures of a scene in camera using a tripod. Sometimes I will ISO bracket from 200 to 6400 so as to get a grainy crunchy feel to the extreme shadows, and what helps further on in post production is to leave sharpness and noise reduction switched off.

[@davegrenier1160]

Another way to align layers - set the blend mode of the top layer to "Difference." When not aligned, you'll see outlines of everything. When aligned, static objects will go completely black. It's VERY easy to see. When aligned, reset the blend mode to whatever is suitable for your plan for the image. Lighting the inside of the plane - Awesome!

[@davestokes3446]

Another good technique is to do nothing in LR or ACR other than export to PSCC creating smart objects. You can then use auto-align, turn them into smart objects and take them back into ACR to do whatever you have to.

[@SteveP_2426]

Very clear explanations Nick and picked up some tips. Oh...I suspect nearly EVERYONE has heard of Squarespace, they seem to sponsor nearly every photographer on KZbin! Merry Christmas from the UK, Stay safe.

[@HR-wd6cw]

Also, a good thing to keep in mind is the histogram is based on the JPEG preview, so you do actually have a little wiggle room if you do blow out a few highlights, but this depends also on how blown out they are. But if you don't see much or any highlights, you're in good shape (sometimes if you have a little small area that's blown out on the blinkies screen, if you're shooting RAW you can often times get those highlights back because the RAW file contains more data than the JPEG). But I would still strive for no blinkies / highlight warning in the preview because that will ensure you don't have any blown highlights.

[@aLittlePal]

Glad to hear you say that you look at the histogram, ignore the rest. Photography is about feeding light to your digital censor, or your film, people think photography is about manipulating your lens and camera, oh no.

[@dronerjeff]

Nick!! others are saying it and I'll say it again.,. this was by far one of the best, most information dense, yet easy to take in videos. I have so much work to do. Thank you thank you thank you

[@hulmesg]

Expose to the right and Ignore the meter, just use the histogram and highlight alert, even if the image on the screen doesn't look right - that might just be the most life-changing advice I've been given in many years of photography. Can't wait start trying this.

[@rocketmanab]

Wow...for the first time I think I get the ETTR concept. Great video man...thanks for this

[@Smi77y1]

I feel like I know most all of this but I still watch cause you are so good and entertaining at it lol. And i know a good amount now largely because of you! Thanks for all you do brotha!!

[@simonmiles1972]

Nick's video tutorials on exposure blending from his website are the best there are (the only ones I actually understand!). He also shows some great techniques for dodging and burning using luminosity masks, which I now use all the time. I highly recommend them, and this video is a great introduction. Great stuff.

[@NickPage]

I appreciate that! Thank you!

[@MarcGironPhotography]

This is, for sure, one of your best free instructional videos to date. Almost touching the premium level I would say. Even if one could figure out a lot of this by sheer trial and error, it is far better to have this information in the back of your head once you are out in the field, than finding out afterwards during post, with lower quality material to work with. Possibly spoiling an image that could be potentially awesome. Thanks a lot Nick! The content and your personality keeps your channel on a solid first place.

[@britainandrew]

Absolutley loved the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion-sounding music in the background

[@brettpatching]

Excellent video Nick! First time I've heard about dual-processing an image, but that makes so much sense. I've just arrived here from F4 Road Trip, and this is the first time in ages that I've binged a KZbin channel. Your images are sickeningly good 🙂 Just beautiful. It also means a lot that you like everyone's comments. I'm sure other KZbinrs read (at least some of) our comments, but it's really good to see it explicitly.

[@alessandrolosacco9406]

I like the way all is explained. Clear and with beautiful examples, thanks

[@michaelkennedy8843]

As usual, Nick puts some meat on the bone in this one. Not just a bunch of talking he actually gives some valuable tips and insight.

[@brianbeattyphotography]

Great point on the ISO 50 vs. 100. Never knew that it would inadvertently clip highlights.

[@davidjones8070]

This is why i like using Capture One Pro..i can take a single image with the foreground exposing for the shadows and mask the sky and use luma range to recover the bright sky. Its super esy and i can stay in C1 to finish editing. All great things to keep in mind when shooting...thanks Nick.

[@dsfarag]

You’re a great teacher Nick.

[@rauldeandrade]

I think (I have never found technical documentation confirming) ISO 50 focuses the exposure curve and bit depth to the left at the expense of dynamic range and bit depth in the highlights. In practice I've always found ISO 50 cleaner as far as noise and with richer color depth exposing to the middle or to the left. This is why I bracket at ISO 50. Your photo of ISO 50 with color shift in the highlights is very interesting and something I've never noticed in my shots. I really wish there was more technical information on how the sensors work so we can better choose settings that better fit a given use case. Thank you so much for the wonderful video as always, you have a trove of information to share and I'm always grateful learning new things from you as well as the wonderful scenery. Keep it up :D

[@duncansteward4331]

this is the best discussion and details relating to how to expose and why to expose for the highlights. Very Good :)

[@seanyessmanncoaching4056]

Up until today, I had only seen your gear review videos. I was definitely missing out. Such great tutorials man!

[@NickPage]

Wow really? I recommend my in the field videos over the others

[@neilcamden1365]

Awesome vid Nick. I use ETTR for astro, but have never really considered it for other shots. Really good stuff. Technical, but not too technical. Anyone else mesmerized by the live audio meter behind Nick as well?

[@MikeEbrahimi]

This is like 5 videos worth of info in one with a nice flow. Easy to understand

[@leighdorey8271]

Fantastic video Nick personally think its one of your best tutorial vlogs.

[@thegreeklife2854]

like every other video you have made always professional but in a language common folk can grasp (me) i think your down to earth presence & the way you explain things is brilliant , i think my favourite vid is the light painting one anyway great job again keep it up Thanks

[@steevo1976]

Fantastic video Nick. A really well explained process that seems almost obvious when simplified in such a clear way. Have a good one. 👍

[@jimbass2127]

A tip: when lining up two PS layers, temporarily set the blend mode on the top layer to "difference." It will make registering them easy. BTW, if I had a choice between background music in the video or silence, I pick silence.

[@NickPage]

yep I use that blend mode all the time, but I didn't want to get sucked into a rabbit hole about blend modes, I was trying to talk about something else.

[@DflyDude]

This was a really great video with clear explanation of the why behind the concept. well done.

[@ammonbuhler1616]

Great explaining how to work a photo with editing in mind for the best outcome.

[@tremaincheerful4189]

Thanks Nick! This is by far the clearest explanation and set of directions and procedures I have found about this subject of exposure control. Just wonderfully clear and so very helpful.

[@karlthefirst8690]

Ah Nick, I didn’t know how much I’d missed hearing “it’s going to act like a stencil”. It’s time to get back to those PS courses for a refresher. Great video, man, thanks.

[@johnhubble5156]

Excellent! It is not long ago that one of your KZbin persr with a similar number of followers included ETTR in a list of the top ten most unhelpful pieces of advice he recieved when starting out because modern cameras allowed effective shadow recovery. Your point about data is well made I am amazed that people who would be appalled at the thought of a 50% decrease in the speed of their internet connection are happy to throw away 50% of the data in an image by deliberately under exposing by one stop.

[@mikeyb9819]

Great video Nick, very informative. Never considered blending 2 edits of the same file before.

[@chriscrowhurst]

I love the selective blending, I have just used "hdr merge" in the past but this makes me want to redo those images with your approach. thanks for the education.

[@OAK_MTN]

Double RAW editing is going to change my work flow for sure, never thought of doing that!

[@herkekaandorp5796]

Such a great video, you truly are one of the best photographers I know!

[@kmulhall8233]

Loved how you explained your editing process. Thanks

[@HerveAttia]

I was there yesterday at Boot Arch , alabama hills !

[@granthorner]

Thanks Nick for explaining exposing to the right in an easy to understand manor!

[@byWasim]

Woah! I gotta say man, jaded ol' me learned quite a bit from this video. Mind a bit blown with the bit about iso50 vs iso100. I'm shooting on an A7iii and just always figured that the lower the iso, the better, but you just helped me make complete sense of why I often select my shots at 100 or 200 rather than the ones at 50 or 64.

[@sheldonmurphy6031]

6 or 5.5years ago, I watched one of your vids for the first time, and you showed me the wonderful world of astrophotography. (6 months after i bought my SL1) along with Rokinon lenses. I am just now at this level to where i need and must learn this, and your explination are always understandable, clean, and precise. I have pugilistica dementia. Obtaining new info is difficult a lot of times, BUT all your teachings have begun to enter my long term memory, and my photography has skyrocket overnight. Many people ask me what camera did i upgrade to, and i love telling them that its my SL1. I always boast your channel. Thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge with the world sir! 😊 Much Love From Iowa 😁

[@sjsphotog]

Fantastic tutorial Nick. Great info. Amazing images here. Thanks.

[@rebeccamoore4177]

OMG! I finally understand this. And now it seems obvious! Thanks for such a clear explanation without condescension.

[@Haixu_Wang]

I've tested it myself using 5D Mark III. You can blow up your highlight in raw a little bit, because the warning is only for the jpg. By pulling down the highlight in post, you will recover those details as well

[@lightexplorer]

Dude can I just say that this video was the most helpful advice I have ever received for photography in a very long time. I went out to do seascape shooting recently and instead of exposing -1 EV like I normally do, I used ETTR and just took a separate shot for the highlights in the sky. The RAWs came out so much better. Thank you for putting together this video.

[@closmasmas9080]

It’s been a while, but I’m glad I’ve come back to this channel

[@joeiscoffee]

Excellent presentation Nick.

[@AlexArmitage]

Nick you kind of touched on this when you mentioned the 5Dm3 but I think something incredibly important to this entire lesson is your results will vary based on what camera you are using, specifically how new it is. As you pointed out shadow recovery has gotten so much better in the last couple of years allowing us to expose for highlights and recover shadows a lot more than in the past. However for any of your viewers who might be shooting on mid/low range cameras or older cameras they might not experience the same abilities you were able to showcase here.

[@julianrohloff2811]

This was so informative! I've tried the ETTR with my small Olympus camera and I get much much cleaner images! Thanks a lot Nick

[@meandemeanor9034]

Fantastic information sharing there Nick. As an amature, I find your insight invaluable.

[@ferret4king]

I am in awe of the amount of technical knowledge you have. Thank you for sharing these tips!

[@DOM_4GOOD]

zero unlike...that SAYS IT ALL! thanks Nick for all of this straightforward informations!

[@NickPage]

Give it time.. it will come haha

[@szubal]

So much information here. Thank you. Going to save and revisit ... often. Thanks!

[@chantaljacques7664]

Awesome video Nik! Always very clear and useful presentation! Thanks

[@miltonpics]

You have clarified this whole area for me Nick, I often bracket when there is moving objects like trees and then struggle to blend the images. I know better now, thanks.

[@manuelsjr]

Great lesson Nick. Thanks!

[@mmv8416]

Impressive video. I will definitely spend more time thinking about post processing when I am shooting.

[@billbell8800]

Thanks Nick. during this video the light turned on, and I realized what I needed to do to make my photography better...... happy new year....

[@dansceats8840]

Great stuff as usual, thank you. It would be great to see how you blended the last shot.

[@mrmark85]

Thanks Nick, super helpful. Soo great getting this level of detail and the multiple examples really make it clear. Definitely learned a few things here.

[@PhotoBronze]

Lot's of great tips in this video. As someone who shot primarily transparency film back in the day, I was familiar with "exposing for the highlights" but did not realize how this affected the digital sensor. Thank you for explaining that Nick.

[@freetibet1000]

Yes, back in the days when I was shooting film positives I had a habit of intentionally underexpose 2/3 - 1 1/3 for best results. That is usually not such a good idea in the digital world of today though.

[@richardduckworth859]

Great video, Nick. Thank you for posting.

[@matthiasrichter-foto-7]

Hey, a very good video. Great content, good music in the backround. Not too long, not to short. Fine! Thanks from Germany.

[@ptcruiser2012]

This was a brilliant video done in such a subtle way. I learned more than I want to admit too. For almost a year I bracketed all the time. Lately I have stopped bracketing for everything but the situations you pointed out. However when I didn't bracket I did not ETTR because I did not understand it in the way you just taught it. This brought together a lot of things I have learned in a succinct way. Using luminosity masks as a selection to paint in the detail from another image really helped me understand how the two concepts differentiate. I think this video is going to help a lot of people become better photographers. Thank you Nick.

[@chrisnoronhaphoto]

One of the best explanations of ETTR I’ve seen! You’re a master of your craft, Nick! Keep inspiring! 👍🏼

[@michelebedard2226]

I understand now what people mean by exposing to the right. Thank you

[@danielodonoghue3529]

It's been a while since I have watched you. This reminds me of why I love your vlogs. Really clear, informative and just great to watch.

[@G0FUW]

Great tutorial Nick, thanks for sharing.

[@cyclogenisis]

As a beginner this just took me to the next level

[@nfinnigan]

Thanks Nick, from Nick. Hope you have a Merry Christmas.

[@FrankPietersen]

Great tutorial as always, thanks again and have a great 2021!

[@carlreid4161]

Great advice well presented good job Nick!

[@Luigi13]

Good explanations, thank you.

[@raphaelcoelho1557]

I just bracket all the time. If anything is not good at the blending it is likely that one of my 9 photos would work as an ETTR alone. That increase my possibilities although in the case of trees I did get the movement point. If you have moved objects at the highlights just get a good exposure to the highlights use blending for the shadows instead. Anyway, for me they are not mutual eliminating concepts. Use both at the same case.

[@valeriehoffman8180]

This was one of the best explanations of bracketing and exposing to the right I have ever seen/heard. The visuals absolutely helped. Also, Very few people that I talk to -even those that have been shooting for a really long time, pay any attention to what is the "native" or "base" ISO for their camera. Tons of landscape photographers go down to 50 ISO if they can, believing that this gives them the best image quality. You are the first to really point that error out. Most excellent video. You are an excellent teacher:)

[@NickPage]

Thank you so much Valerie... its one of those that only the most nerdy among us dare to try and unpack and talk about I think. Much easier to just record a top five tips video instead haha

[@freetibet1000]

The optimum iso is not always 100. For instance, the optimum iso for most professional cameras in the Nikon lineup has been 64 for the past 5 or 6 years at least, including D810, D850 and the Z lineup of cameras. But the same principles that Nick talks about do apply of course. Just not at the same numbers.

[@NickPage]

@@freetibet1000 that’s why I said “base iso”

[@flaseven21]

Very awesome info. With an example, you make it easy to learn. Thanks a lot Nick (kk guru) 🙏👍

[@danielrao3120]

An excellent instructional video - well explained, detailed enough, and at the right pace for most of us learners to glean all the essentials. I am most grateful to you. Many thanks.

[@fubband]

Great video, Nick, lots of sound advice that I will pay attention to. Something else worth mentioning is that the image shown on the back LCD of a camera is a jpeg, which will show blown highlights sooner than the RAW file, so one can often push the exposure a little farther to the right than you might think based on the blinkies

[@NickPage]

yes.. but headroom is a good thing, you want to get it close, but not risk blowing anything out.. I think just like in Audio.. you need to have SOME headroom

[@fubband]

@@NickPage good point, better safe than sorry! Just that I rarely see any KZbin photography vloggers mention that the LCD image is actually a jpeg and therefore subject to the style chosen in the camera menu. Not a criticism of you btw, yours is a great channel with a really natural style and I love the honesty that comes through 👍🏻

[@NickPage]

@@fubband No worries! I’ve mentioned other places I probably should’ve made that a bit more clear in this particular video. That’s part of why people need to be very cautious about which picture style or shooting with things like dynamic range optimization settings on like I’ve covered in the past. I think the reason you don’t hear more people are not talking about this kind of stuff on KZbin is well .....most on here are better at top five tips videos than understanding their gear lol :-).

[@fubband]

@@NickPage 🤣👍🏻

[@extremelydave]

Holy crap that was a lot of very cool info... even cooler was having it explained in a way that I will remember it!!! I thank myself for subscribing once I found you!!!

[@RS-Amsterdam]

Well Nick over 1.1K thumbs up and no thumbs down ... Chapeau brother !!

[@destrewilliams6589]

Thanks Nick, watching your channel is like clearing my cache, I always process better after your tips and instruction.

[@kevinjack5184]

What a treasure trove of grand information! I learn so much from your videos only to forget it by the following video.

[@NickPage]

I feel ya! its all about repetition.. its the advantage a person that shoots a ton has over the normal person .. repetition. but it will sink in, just have to think about it from time to time

[@metrixc]

Finally a great teaching video. ;) Thanks.

[@alexfurer]

Great one! I was very stuck with exposing the same way as did with analog cameras and film. Started discovering of ETTR last summer. But this video really made me understand why. Didn’t know the bit about the iso either. Another analog knot I hade untied here. Thank you