Judging Brackets from Digital Capture

[markgoble]

Hello,

I have been reading posts and articles on the subject of ETTR and Histograms. I am new to digital capture and post process, and i have a few questions about Judging my Bracketed exposures with digital capture.

I shoot  Raw, and my questions are.

1. Where in the Capture and post process do you evaluate your bracketed exposures to pick the best exposure? ( is it on the LCD of your camera or in the raw converter)

2. Is it correct to say that the Histogram on the LCD is of the Jpeg on the LCD? ( if this is correct is the histogram correct enough to base my continued bracked sequence, because i am reading that you can review the histogram on the LCD to make decisions about your exposures, and again i'm shooting Raw )

3. Does the raw converter show a raw histogram?

4. Is it correct to say...... I should pick the exposure from the Bracket that is farthest to the right without clipping, and that this is my best exp. to work on in post?

5. Does a situation exist that you should not choose the exp. in the above question?

Thank you for your time and comments,

Mark

[wolfnowl]

1. Where in the Capture and post process do you evaluate your bracketed exposures to pick the best exposure? ( is it on the LCD of your camera or in the raw converter)

Both, initially.  Depending on your camera you'll get to know what looks good on the LCD and how this translates to an image opened up in your RAW converter.  You may find clipping varies depending on colour, for example.

2. Is it correct to say that the Histogram on the LCD is of the Jpeg on the LCD? ( if this is correct is the histogram correct enough to base my continued bracked sequence, because i am reading that you can review the histogram on the LCD to make decisions about your exposures, and again i'm shooting Raw )

Usually, yes.  See 1, above.

3. Does the raw converter show a raw histogram?

Yes.

4. Is it correct to say...... I should pick the exposure from the Bracket that is farthest to the right without clipping, and that this is my best exp. to work on in post?

Yes.  This gives you the greatest amount of colour information.

5. Does a situation exist that you should not choose the exp. in the above question?

Probably, but it's a good place to begin.

Mike.

[ckimmerle]

Technically, there is no such thing as a RAW histogram as a RAW file is not really an image. The histogram shown is a representative of the color space of the specified profile (AdobeRGB, sRGB, etc) you choose. Change those preferences and you'll see the histogram in the RAW converter change a small amount. At least, that's my understanding.

As for bracketing, I have never really understood the necessity when a clearly defined and easily read histogram is so readily available. It seems to me a bad habit to habitually shoot brackets. There are some occasions, though, when both highlights and shadows are clipped, and bracketing may be helpful to find the best compromise exposure.

Lastly, exposing to the right is a good idea in general, but you'll want to be careful with subjects that have large areas of very subtle highlights as you run the risk of making them look too harsh. The cameras histogram is a great tool, but can be a bit inaccurate at the far reaches of the tone scale (white, black), especially if the the toes of the curves are very long. You will occasionally find that what looked to be a good ETTR histogram actually clips a small bit, even when shooting RAW. Just be aware of the tonality of your subject matter and pull the histogram back a bit to the left if necessary.

[markgoble]

Thanks for your comments Mike and Chuck.

Mark

[Jeffacme]

Mark,

In my view bracketing is not necessary for digital shooting. Getting to know and understand the quirks of your particular camera and how it handles different lighting situations is far more important.

As a rule I like to expose 1/2 to 2/3 stop to the right side of the histogram given most conditions.

For dark and moody situations I will push the exposure further to gain detail and reduce noise in the shadow areas.

High key, just leave it as the camera sees it.

The most important thing is to shoot allot, break the rules often, and see what happens.

One of the best things about digital is the low cost of experimentation.

If you need to be more scientific shoot the three scenarios above plus and minus two stops with one stop increments. Put them in your raw converter and see which are the most forgiving.

That will give you the basic "rules" for your camera. Once you know them you can forget about bracketing and just make pictures.

[markgoble]

Thanks Jeff, i appreciate it.