Exposing for highlights or lowlights when high dynamic range?

9 years 6 months ago #402458 by Howard T
When you have a large gap in dynamic range and HDR bracketing isn't an option, will you expose the shot for the shadows or will you expose for the highlights?  


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9 years 6 months ago #402480 by PT Talker
Always expose for the highlights when bracketing isn't an option. You can usually bring up detail in shadows, but blown out highlights are gone forever.

-Dana


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9 years 6 months ago #402592 by garyrhook
:agree:
You can't recover blown highlights, ever. You can deal with shadows in more than one way.


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9 years 6 months ago #402700 by Joves
I have a Nikon so I would expose for the high end if I could only get one shot. Nikons will bring back the shadows better. From my understanding Canons favor bringing back highlights that are over exposed a bit. 


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9 years 6 months ago - 9 years 6 months ago #402704 by PT Talker

Joves wrote: I have a Nikon so I would expose for the high end if I could only get one shot. Nikons will bring back the shadows better. From my understanding Canons favor bringing back highlights that are over exposed a bit. 


That hasn't been my experience with Canon at all.

I decided I should probably clarify that statement a bit, so this doesn't turn into a Canon/Nikon debate. I simply haven't experienced anything to suggest that my Canon develops more detail in highlights. Blown highlight areas are just that, although I've been able to recover detail in well-underexposed areas.

Given that, I expose for the highlights and that has worked consistently for me.


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