Become a Better Photographer by Exposing to the Right

Sun creeps down the mountains west of the Cotton Ball Basin, Death Valley National Park

Read old photography books and you’ll find instruction on over or under exposing your camera in order to “fool” your camera into capturing the scene on film as it was in real life. Cameras are designed to render every scene at an average of middle gray, which may not be suitable for all scenes. For example, snow or beach scenes often need to be over exposed by a couple of stops or else the camera will expose the snow or sand darker than it appears in real life, giving a muddy appearance to a naturally bright scene. The same is true for naturally dark scenes. For example, if a black cat fills most of your frame, you should underexpose or else the camera will try to expose the cat at middle gray, blowing out your highlights.

However, this is not necessarily true with digital photography. As you are learning the craft of digital photography, once you graduate from shooting jpeg images to RAW images, you should learn how to “expose to the right”.
In a nutshell, this means overexposing the shot as much as possible without blowing out (or clipping) your highlights. This term is named after the fact that when overexposing, the tones captured by the camera move to the right part of the histogram that represents the possible tonal range the camera’s sensor can capture.

The principal behind this technique is simple – digital sensors capture far more digital information on the right side of the histogram (the brightest part of the image), than the left side of the histogram (the darkest part of the image). In other words, images with lots of bright, detailed areas take up more disk space (and contain more digital information) than images with dark features.

Let’s assume for example your camera’s digital sensor can capture 8 stops of light across 4096 tonal levels (in reality, dynamic range varies from sensor to sensor). The more tonal levels a sensor can capture, the smoother the transition between light and dark in the resulting photo. The f-stop measurement is logarithmic in nature, meaning a stop will capture twice as much light as one stop darker. That means using the example distribution above of 4096 tonal levels across 8 stops of light, the brightest stop will capture 2048 tonal levels while the darkest will capture only 32. There is much more digital information needed to capture the many tonal levels of the brightest stop than the few tonal levels of the darkest stop.

You’ve likely seen the results of this lack of digital information when trying to brighten an image in post processing. As you increase the exposure slider in Lightroom, for example, you’ll see lots of digital noise appear in the dark spots of the image. If, on the other hand, you need to make an image darker in post processing, no digital noise is added because you already had all that extra digital information in the brighter image. Therefore, the goal of exposing to the right is to capture the maximum amount of digital information as possible in the field, so that you have more options with that image in post processing.

Here are some examples:

In the image of the Grand Tetons above, I set my camera’s exposure compensation to +1 1/3 stops, even though it looked terrible on the back of my camera. By trusting the core principals of this technique and relying on my experience, I knew that once I post processed the RAW file in Lightroom, I could really make the image sing. Here is the result:

A fog bank moves in front of the Grand Tetons as the rising sun illuminates the sheer peaks, Grand Teton National Park

I corrected the photo in post processing by setting the black point to the left most side of the histogram. This evened out the tones across the entire histogram, adding a lot more contrast back into the photo. Secondly, I dropped the exposure slider down by about 1 stop. This corrected for the overexposure I made in the field. The real benefits can be seen when blowing this image up to inspect it for printing. The shadows are smooth and detailed – more so than if I shot at the correct exposure in the field.

The second example is from Death Valley National Park. Here again I set the exposure compensation on the camera to 1 2/3 stops lighter than the sensor would normally expose the scene. Similar to the brightness of the fog in the Tetons example, all of the white salt in this image required an overexposure so as not to get a middle gray result.

In the field, I kept raising my exposure compensation until I saw the white “blinkies” (overexposure warning) on the resulting image, indicating some parts of the scene were blown out. This meant that these parts of the image no longer contained any detail, and would render a pure white. There is no recovery from blown out white, no matter how much post processing you do, so I lowered the exposure compensation by 1/3 of a stop until the blinkies were no longer showing.

Sun creeps down the mountains west of the Cotton Ball Basin, Death Valley National Park
Sun creeps down the mountains west of the Cotton Ball Basin, Death Valley National Park

The processing steps were the same as the first image – set the black point to add contrast, and lower the exposure slider until the image looked correct on a calibrated monitor.

How to expose to the right

  1. Always shoot RAW! If you aren’t shooting RAW, you are already throwing away digital information, and letting robots process your images.
  2. Turn on the histogram for your camera. Make sure that every image viewed on the rear LCD shows a histogram, which you can use to judge the overall lightness and darkness of the image.
  3. Turn on the overexposure warning. On Cannon cameras, this the “blinkie” display. Any overexposed portions of your image will flash white, letting you quickly know that you need to lower the exposure compensation.
  4. Set the camera to evaluative metering. This means the camera’s light meter will use the entire scene to evaluate the exposure. I shoot 100% of my images in this mode, and I’ve learned my camera’s metering characteristics well enough to set the exposure compensation correctly for different light and dark scenes.
  5. Shoot a couple of test shots, making sure you overexpose the maximum amount without the overexposure warning appearing in the resulting image.
  6. In post processing, correct the exposure by setting the black point. In Lightroom, this means lowering the “Blacks” slider until there are values to the left most side of the histogram. This stretches the image values across the entire histogram, increasing contrast.
  7. Finally, lower the overall Exposure slider if the image is still too bright.
  8. Print and enjoy! Congratulations, you’ve just used your camera’s sensor to its maximum, gathering the highest possible amount of digital information from the scene.

My final example is also from Death Valley National Park, this time evening light on the Mesquite Dune field. When I overexposed this scene, I lost almost all contrast in the resulting image. However, I captured a ton of clean detail in the shadows of the dunes. This detail is especially important in this image, because the shadow patterns is the main foreground element, and having any digital noise here would ruin the image.

The Mesquite Dunes stretch across the valley just north of Stovepipe Wells, Death Valley National Park
The Mesquite Dunes stretch across the valley just north of Stovepipe Wells, Death Valley National Park

In the final image I was able to add back all the contrast that was in the real scene, and ensure I kept all my shadows smooth and noise free. Practicing this technique a few times will make it a natural part of your workflow. If you have any questions about this process, drop me a comment below, or shoot me a message through my website.

Gear I used to create the photos in this post:

Ghost Trees

White aspen grow in the row in front of a forest of fir trees, Grand Teton National Park
White aspen grow in the row in front of a forest of fir trees, Grand Teton National Park

On my recent trip to Wyoming, I spent quite a bit of time photographing stands of aspen. In one particular grove, there was a nice mix of fir with the aspen. One of the guys I was with found this line of leave-less trees in front of a dark backdrop of thick fir trees. As soon as I saw it, I starting thinking in black and white. I really liked the way trees seemed to flatten out in front of the firs. This was definitely not a fall color subject, but something almost morose or Gothic.

White aspen grow in the row in front of a forest of fir trees, Grand Teton National Park
White aspen grow in the row in front of a forest of fir trees, Grand Teton National Park

I began by processing this photo in color, but realized that my first instincts were correct. This needed a black and white treatment! One of the wonders of digital conversion to black and white is the ability to set luminance settings per color. This flexibility allowed me to drop just the greens close to black, which created an even backdrop from which the white bark of the trees could pop. It’s like using a magic filter with black and white film. Instead of picking a filter color that would lighten one color and darken its opposite color (for example, a red filter would darken a blue sky), I get to pick and choose in post processing which colors I want light and which I want dark.

What do you think? Which do you like better and why?

Lessons From Jack

The sun just lights the top of the Tetons as it rises behind a grove of aspen in their fall colors, Grand Teton National Park

The Tetons rise behind a stand of fall aspen, Grand Teton National Park
The Tetons rise behind a stand of fall aspen, Grand Teton National Park

When we pulled up to the stand of aspen that Jack had scouted earlier, I could tell he was hopefully optimistic about the coming sunset. I was participating in a 5 day photo workshop with landscape legend Jack Dykinga, and this was our first field excursion of the workshop. We were in Grand Teton National Park and the weather had been less than optimal, with thick smoke sitting on the floor of the valley, extirpating any hope of a clear view of the mountains. However, earlier in the day, there had been a shift in the wind, and the weather forecast called for a storm moving through in the next couple of days.

“You know, we might just get a killer sunset,” Jack said to the eager group. The location certainly was beautiful. A colorful grove of fall aspen stood before us with the grandeur of the Tetons rising behind. But the clouds were building in the west and there was still a haze in the sky above the mountains. I just didn’t see it. Uninspired, I set about working with tight shots of the trees.

As it got later, I decided to move up the road a bit and get into a position that removed my foreground, composing just the trees and mountain. Just in case we have a sunset, I thought. A few minutes later, Jack appeared to my left and a little ways behind me. Apparently he had found his spot and was getting ready for the sunset he was anticipating. I could tell he was getting more excited as it got later. I still didn’t see anything special in the light, so I asked him what he thought was going to happen.

“We have just a trace of smoke in the sky, with clouds building above, that when the sun sets behind that notch,” he pointed to the right of the mountains, “we might just get God beams blasting up from behind.” Not sharing his optimism, I adjusted my composition anyway, including the notch he pointed to. Just in case. Eventually, the sun set behind the notch, just as he predicted, but no great light. “Just wait,” he called out to the group. “And be ready!” Moments later it all came together.

Dramatic light bursts from behind the Tetons at sunset.  Thick smoke and haze from nearby forest fires create God beams as the sun drops behind the horizon, Grand Teton National Park
Dramatic light bursts from behind the Tetons at sunset. Thick smoke and haze from nearby forest fires create God beams as the sun drops behind the horizon, Grand Teton National Park

As he captured his images, Jack whooped into the air with joy. And he let out more than one of his trademark “Woof!” shouts. As amazed as I was about Jack’s ability to predict exactly what the light was going to do, I realized that what was happening here was not pure luck or voodoo magic. Certainly this ability to anticipate the light came from his years of experience working with 4×5 cameras. Working with large format film requires a far slower pace than what is possible with the run-and-gun potential of 35mm format. One of the requirements of this slow pace is the ability to anticipate and then patiently wait for the light to happen in front of you. Since he was a successful large format photographer for so many years, logic dictates that he must also be an expert light forecaster. It is a skill I greatly admire and will strive to hone in the future.

A few days later, Jack was giving one of his amazing photographic lectures. When a student asked how he “lucked” across a particular cactus with a perfect bloom, Jack said that this image was taken on something like his tenth trip to this spot in as many days, waiting for the bloom to become optimal. And he had previously visited this site close to a hundred times. In other words, Jack knew these cacti very well. After all, the best photographers are experts on their subjects.

After the workshop, I got a chance to put this lesson to practice. My friend Jerry Dodrill (and the workshop’s co-leader), suggested that although we had been to the same stand of aspen several times already (our group had revisited the first night’s location later in the week), he felt the location still had more to offer. “I’d love to see both the mountains and those trees side lit in the early morning,” he told me. And although this would make three visits in four days to the same spot, we awoke long before dawn and made the journey out to this secluded forest service road. I had my doubts as we watched the clouds in the pre-dawn light, streaking to the east, but I trusted Jerry’s experience, and knew that this was an opportunity to try out Jack’s suggestion that we revisit locations well known to us.

As I set up my composition and waited for the light, I became aware that each time I came here, I did know the area a little better, giving me a better idea of how to approach the subject. In fact, as I lined up my shot that morning, I felt I was in the best spot of all my previous attempts at this shot. Moving left and right, forward and backward, zooming in and out gave me infinite possibilities to compose this type of shot. It helped to understand the some of the subtleties of my subject and have a clear vision in my mind of exactly what I wanted to achieve.

The sun just lights the top of the Tetons as it rises behind a grove of aspen in their fall colors, Grand Teton National Park
The sun just lights the top of the Tetons as it rises behind a grove of aspen in their fall colors, Grand Teton National Park

As the top of the mountain began its alpenglow transition to day, the scene in front of me was beautiful. But I heard Jack’s voice in my mind – “Wait for it!” All at once the morning sun brushed the aspen with luminous side light. I clicked the shutter, appreciative for these lessons from Jack.

Grand Tetons National Park – The Mountains

The Tetons glow red as they are front lit by the sun at dawn, Grand Teton National Park
The Tetons glow red as they are front lit by the sun at dawn, Grand Teton National Park

For my second post from my recent trip to Grand Teton National Park, I’ll focus on what I had considered the main attraction before the trip – the mountains. What was not expected however was being greeted by thick smoke from several nearby forest fires. On my first day in the park, the mountains were obscured by a dull gray haze that was so thick, you could barely make out the outline of the peaks.

Storm clouds drift high above the Tetons, Grand Teton National Park
Storm clouds drift high above the Tetons, Grand Teton National Park

Luckily however, some wet weather and (better yet) wind came through the valley, and helped clear things up a bit. In fact, I was excited to see the wet weather move in not just to help in clearing out the smoke, but because storms (and the clouds they bring) really help create drama. One of the worst things a landscape photographer can see in the forecast is clear blue skies.

I managed to visit all of the famous views of the Tetons while I was there. Though I usually shy away from such places, any self-respecting photographer should have these shots in his portfolio. After all, there is a reason they have become famous views!

The Tetons are reflected in the Snake River at Schwabacher's Landing, Grand Teton National Park
The Tetons are reflected in the Snake River at Schwabacher’s Landing, Grand Teton National Park

Even with the wind and weather moving through, we had several very foggy mornings. It was nice to see the smoke dissipating (fog generally looks “cleaner” than smoke), but at times the thick fog obscured both the view and the sun rising behind us. However, as the old saying goes, work with what ya got, and on one morning, I was able to use the fog to my advantage, adding a layer of separation to an otherwise straight forward sunrise shot.

A fog bank moves in front of the Grand Tetons as the rising sun illuminates the sheer peaks, Grand Teton National Park
A fog bank moves in front of the Grand Tetons as the rising sun illuminates the sheer peaks, Grand Teton National Park

Probably the most iconic spot in the park is Oxbow Bend, where the Snake River pools into a large area, allowing for still water and insane reflections. I was there on two mornings, and both times I didn’t even stop the car. The first attempt saw that familiar smoky haze, and in the second we were greeted by dense fog. And yet both times there were close to 100 photographers lined up waiting for sunrise. To this day I still don’t know what they expected to shoot in that weather, but I guess you have to respect their commitment? Meanwhile I was off to better spots for that weather.

Eventually I did get to photograph Oxbow Bend, this time around 10 in the morning. Usually I’m done for the morning by this time, but the fog was just starting the clear out. Luckily the trees along the shoreline were blazing with yellow, which juxtaposed the late morning blue of the mountains beyond. Some day I’ll have to make it back here for sunrise – I’ll be sure to sharpen my elbows first.

The fall colors of Aspen contrast the blue hues of the Tetons, Grand Teton National Park
The fall colors of Aspen contrast the blue hues of the Tetons, Grand Teton National Park

As amazing as the Tetons were to see in person, I began to realize by the mid point in my trip that the real stars of the show (beyond the numerous wildlife) were the fall colors and the trees that wore them. But that will have to remain for another post….

Copyright 2017 Hank Christensen