Under or Over Expose?

R8JimBob88

R8JimBob88

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James Stockton
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I have often asked myself this one.

Is it better to under expose or over expose a picture? Infact my old college tutor told me that it was best to over expose a photo where as I always thought that it would be better to under expose a photo slightly?

Bit random I know, obviously a decent overall exposed is what we want (most of the time), but if we had to do one or the other, which one would you do? :shrug:
 
Bit of an odd question :thinking:

I guess I'd prefer to under expose an image, it's easier to make an image lighter (albeit at the introduction of noise), whereas blown highlights are pretty unrecoverable? Not sure really, I suppose most people will just aim to expose properly!

Chris
 
A slight over-exposure will allow better capture of detail through the whole dynamic range that the sensor records. A histogram which peaks to the right of centre should be the target and give the greatest possibilities for post processing.

Bob
 
I always underexpose slightly, as said I find it easier to recover shadow as opposed to highlights and can sort the noise out if necessary.
 
If you shoot JPEG you should expose correctly in the first place. You want to avoid any needless editing like correcting exposure or white balance.

If you shoot raw you should (could) "Expose To The Right", meaning that you should use the maximum exposure you can without actually overexposing (blowing/clipping) anything, other than specular highlights. You can then lower the exposure during editing and this will squeeze out noise in the darker areas. It will also give you far more captured data with which to fiddle and give you smoother tonal gradations etc..

Look upon shooting JPEG as capturing the "image" in the camera, whereas when you shoot raw you are capturing "data" in the camera from which you will generate your final image at the computer.

The exception to the above is when the light is truly miserable and to expose correctly or to the right will require too long a shutter speed, leading to excessive camera shake or subject blur. Then you will have no choice but to underexpose a bit and hope to fix it up in post.
 
It depends on the subject, overexposing really can work well with portraits, but landscapes sometimes not.

That said, if you have a bright sun or light source (headlights of a car) and want to emphasize the 'pop' that these lights give, then over-exposing is really the only option.

Like anything it's a balancing act, but I always set my cameras to under expose by about 1/2 a stop if I am in ANY doubt, as it's easier to boost shadows that regain lost highlight detail.

Cheers,
James
 
As a general guess I try and lean towards underexposing in bright surroundings and overexposing in dim or dark situations...also even boosting iso slightly to help with noise if overexposing.

The idea being to utilise the right hand 'third' of the histogram more, but only if its possible without blowing highlights. Interestingly my D70 matrix meter does this as standard, there's no doubt in my mind it would argue slightly with a film meter occasionally.
 
Depends on the situation really. I find myself underexposing to retain sky detail a lot of the time. However with a darker subject you would obviously want to ensure detail in the shadows.
 
I would agree that it depend on the situation.

I read somewhere (may have been on here) to increase shutter speed with out upping the ISO too much, shoot raw and under expose 2 stops then bring is back in software
 
Out of interest, what stock were you shooting when your tutor said to overexpose slightly?

I bet it was negative film stock.

Tranny - under expose by 1/3 or 1/2 depending on the subject and brightness.

Digital - I prefer to get it bang on. Fewer highlights and shadows will be clipped - but then there will be times where that is wrong, such as very high contrast situations, in which case you should expose for th ehighlights or they will get blown to nothing.
 
whiteflyer said:
I would agree that it depend on the situation.

I read somewhere (may have been on here) to increase shutter speed with out upping the ISO too much, shoot raw and under expose 2 stops then bring is back in software
Click to expand...

*yikes* I'd be thinking -1/3 or -2/3 if I was just hoping to err on the side of caution...

That said, its an interesting debate, the opinions seem to be split, which leaves me to wonder if (for the most part) we should just let the exposure run at its normal 18% grey and adjust the output. After all the discussions have revolved around how to recover lost detail in either the shadows or the highlights and opinions are devided on which is easier.

</ramble>
 
if you overexpose you can't "pull" back any detail lost in blown highlights, whereas if you underexpose you can bring some detail back out of shadow areas
 
hyakuhei said:
*yikes* I'd be thinking -1/3 or -2/3 if I was just hoping to err on the side of caution...

That said, its an interesting debate, the opinions seem to be split, which leaves me to wonder if (for the most part) we should just let the exposure run at its normal 18% grey and adjust the output. After all the discussions have revolved around how to recover lost detail in either the shadows or the highlights and opinions are devided on which is easier.

</ramble>
Click to expand...

I think if you're aiming to make a quality photograph, then your exposure at the scene should aim to capture as much detail as possible; only in post should you start thinking about creative exposure. It's a difficult idea to get used to, though.
 
I don't subscribe to the school of thought that every shot should have perfectly exposed shadows and highlights as it's a technical exercise rather than a creative choice (unless I'm doing shots that require clinical perfection such as studio shots of products, etc).

Expose for whatever "feels" right, some people might not like it but at some point you have to trust your own instincts if you want your photos to be more than a technical exercise.
 
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