Quote:
Originally Posted by Julian Thompson
I was toying with the idea of having a go at a bit of film shooting, and thinking about the way I do digital it really wouldn't work.
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I shot - and had a look at the image in the LCD. Perfect actually - I was really pleased. If that had been film it would have presumably turned into a beautiful result.
But then, I checked the histogram (knowing secretly that this dilemma was going to unfold!) and yes - all huddled up there on the left!
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Was my photo not a success as far as 'correct' digital technique is concerned? Should I really expose up to the limit and then throttle it all back in post to maximise the dynamics or should I shoot it to be right as I see it straight off the shutter?
I'm at a bit of a creative crossroads with this and would appreciate some discussion!
Thanks for your thoughts!
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Julian,
the first thing to say is that no camera LCD today is a good way to judge the success of a picture, at least as far as exposure and colours are concerned. It's good to check composition and details and maybe focus but it's not reliable for the rest. Your histogram is your one and best friend for it.
The second thing depends on your choice of your final output, I mean camera output in this case. If you rely on jpegs (and maybe keeping raws as a "spare wheel" for the difficult ones) you got to maximise your DR on the spot, so to say, knowing that your options with pp will be more limited as your pic quality will be affected by whatever you do in it.
On the other hand if you go for raws you should maximise your instrument output (keyword is "expose to the right"), because you will "unfold" it to its best in your (mandatory) pp. This means that, as you said, it would not be logical to waste a good part of the info you can record in your file by working "the jpeg way", though such a raw will still give you some more headroom to play with.
Now to answer more directly to your question, imo what really counts is that you are able to get your image at its best for the use you plan to.
At the same time, not exploiting your instrument to the most it can give, you will definitely affect your chances of success with it.
So guess you have to choose your method and learn how to get the best out of it. With an M8 the "best" starts with only one option: raw.
Just my 2 (euro)cent of course.