I change my RAW files (Nikon D200 NEF) in CS2 to DNG format. Then I adjust the picture for the best setting.
The exposure can be set to 4 steps up or down. What effect does that have on the photograph? Does it matter whether I have exposed correctly or may I do it later in CS2 , even having been several steps off the correct exposure while taking the photo. Is there any need any more to bracket my photos while shooting?
Tom
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The above exposure lattitude would be only for low contrast scenes. With a full scale scene, say a landscape with white clouds, whitecaps on the water, and other areas in shadow, you probably need the full 8-10 stops of dynamic range and don't really have any lattitude. If the contrast ratio is lower, you should expose to the right.
Bracketing is advisable for critical situations, but for less critical work, such as vacation photography, you won't go that wrong if you use your camera's histograms after determining if they allow for any headroom (with some histograms and flashing highlights, you can give as much as one stop additional exposure without actually blowing the highlights). In this situation I don't think another half stop of exposure to the right (assuming you are using a reasonably low ISO) is worth blowing the highlights. Afterall, even with 1 stop of highlight headroom, you still have 2048 levels with which to work. Noise varies with the square root of the number of photons captures. Halving the exposure only increases the noise by a factor of 1.4.