exposing to the right question.

[sebmour]

Hi,

I am wondering, in favor of exposing the photograph to the right should I just adjust exposure compensation 2/3 of a stop overexposed and work from there.

Just trying to figure out the simplist way of always doing this.

Than you all.

[StewartR]

No. How much EC you need to use depends on [a] how light/dark the subject is, and [b] how well exposed it would be without any EC. There's on one-size-fits-all solution.

[PhotosGuy]

I start by aiming for a properly exposed flat-white & refine from there. The sky, water, reflection, might all throw the histogram off, so I use this to be sure that the bright areas "at the right" are the bright areas I want to keep:

Need an exposure crutch? (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=89123)

[Wilt]

There is no single, universally appropriate way to shoot ALL shots...different shots may require different techniques to get 'the best' from that shot. The skill is knowing when which technique is best for which shot.

That isn't the same as simply ignoring the rules and shooting according to 'what works for you'. It is using the appropriate 'rule' for the appropriate situation.

Examples...1. 'shoot to the right' applies when there is highlight detail that you need to keep, and the total range of brightness in the scene will all fit!
2. But it is useless to follow that rule if the tonal range is too great to fit, and you need to preserve shadow detail!
3. And, if you need to retain tonal accuracy (shooting for fashion or textile industry), 'shoot to the right' will get you into a lot of trouble with your client if you do not also take suitable steps to bring back tonal accuracy!

[PhotosGuy]

Seems that we're using similar terms to describe very different things & I don't want to confuse sebmour. so I use this to be sure that the bright areas "at the right" are the bright areas I want to keep:
I shoot a lot of cars in late light. I don't want to keep detail in the chrome at the cost of losing shadow detail, so I expose for a white & let the bright reflections blow out. 1. 'shoot to the right' applies when there is highlight detail that you need to keep, Wilt is adjusting to keep a full (as possible) tonal range. Like film & prints, digital can't show the full tonal range that your eye can see, so we try to keep as much as we can that we think is important at that time with that subject.

You'll see Expose to the right (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml) mentioned. Say there's nothing very bright in the shot, like a blue flower with a green background. A "proper" exposure would put the blue flower in the middle of the histogram, but there are no bright bits to blow out, so you can open up the exposure FOR RAW to put the blue at the right.
This is only used with RAW & the levels are brought down in conversion. Check the link out for why.
I hope it helps.

[sebmour]

Thank you all for the help and information. I was wondering but I will have a hard time applying this since I usually shoot street candids and sports.

[Wilt]

Read this to understand histograms (http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_histogram.html)

And this (http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=histogram)

and this is about exposing to the right (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml)

As was stated, every scene is unique, so one cannot merely set EC to a fixed value for all shots...that is using exposure compensation without universally practicing 'shoot to the right' nor applying tailored solutions for each situation as I described earlier.