Exposure correction in Lightroom: I bracket my photos; I expose to the right; and as a consequence, I get several choices of exposures to choose from. The first photo that shows a...

folkus

I bracket my photos; I expose to the right; and as a consequence, I get several choices of exposures to choose from. The first photo that shows a slight tinge of red has a reading around 245; even a solid red can read 250-255. My question is which of several photos would you generally (I know, it depends...) pick as your best choice - the closest to showing any signs of overexposure but no red at all, one showing the slightest of pink/red; or would you choose the best exposure some other way?

I am limiting my question to exposure - not to any other factor or consideration. I know monitor calibration may be a factor in this, but let's just limit this to the question what is the highest reading between 0 and 255 that I should accept when hovering my mouse over the lightest part of my photo?

Thanks for your helpful responses, I learn so much from the UHH-ers!

Gitchigumi Loc: Wake Forest, NC

I try to get exposure "in the middle" or, slightly ETR. But, in LR, I always do a final adjustment to suit my eye. I do not go to the precision (using values) that you suggest. Perhaps my workflow is faulty, but I adjust each photo to my liking visually. And, each photo is different, requiring slightly different treatment. Even presets need fine-tuning after being applied. Again, I adjust to suit my eye and what conveys the image in the way I think is best. Personal tastes.👍🤓👍

rmm0605 Loc: Atlanta GA

folkus wrote:

I bracket my photos; I expose to the right; and as... (show quote)

Did you mean to include some photos?

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

folkus wrote:

I bracket my photos; I expose to the right; and as... (show quote)

There is no single answer, it depends on the photo and what story you want the photo tell. You can post one or two(and pls use store original option so we don't look at thumbnails) and maybe people will offer some thoughts. To hard to imagine what you are seeing.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Please post photos to coincide with your post. Very hard to determine a response otherwise.
Most UHH-ers are visual people.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

folkus wrote:

I bracket my photos; I expose to the right; and as... (show quote)

I do not bracket unless I am creating an HDR or needing to blend images with a large dynamic range. otherwise, I take my single image and adjust as necessary

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

folkus wrote:

... let's just limit this to the question what is the highest reading between 0 and 255 that I should accept ...

245 is the highest value that will show detail. Any higher value will appear washed out.

Hence for areas where you do want detail that is the correct maximum brightness. Spectral reflections, thin edges, solid areas with no detail, etc can be allowed to be brighter.

An example would be a bright flower picture where none of the pedal surface should be over 245, but individual pixels along the pedal edges might be brighter, for example after sharpening. The shiny spots on a face in a portrait are another where 245 is max.

wapiti Loc: round rock, texas

Gitchigumi wrote:

I try to get exposure "in the middle" or, slightly ETR. But, in LR, I always do a final adjustment to suit my eye. I do not go to the precision (using values) that you suggest. Perhaps my workflow is faulty, but I adjust each photo to my liking visually. And, each photo is different, requiring slightly different treatment. Even presets need fine-tuning after being applied. Again, I adjust to suit my eye and what conveys the image in the way I think is best. Personal tastes.👍🤓👍

steve_stoneblossom Loc: Rhode Island, USA

folkus wrote:

I bracket my photos; I expose to the right; and as... (show quote)

Are you getting your readings directly from LR? I am only able to get a percentage readout from my histogram. Can my settings be changed to display the 0-255 value instead of percentages?

folkus

Apaflo wrote:

245 is the highest value that will show detail. A... (show quote)

Thanks-that is exactly what I was looking for in an answer- perfectly on point and very helpful!

steve_stoneblossom Loc: Rhode Island, USA

folkus wrote:

Thanks-that is exactly what I was looking for in an answer- perfectly on point and very helpful!

May I repeat, from where in Lightroom are you getting your readings, please?

folkus

steve_stoneblossom wrote:

May I repeat, from where in Lightroom are you getting your readings, please?

Sorry, I misspoke, I got confused- the readings came from Capture One Pro

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

folkus wrote:

Sorry, I misspoke, I got confused- the readings came from Capture One Pro

I use GIMP, where any individual pixel or area can be measured. But the most useful tool sets a threshold and shows all pixels above and below that as either black or white.

steve_stoneblossom Loc: Rhode Island, USA

folkus wrote:

Sorry, I misspoke, I got confused- the readings came from Capture One Pro

OK, thanks.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

I am going to be contrary here. I used to be a big believer in bracketting and exposing to the right. The former was very dependent upon the amount of bracketting and slowed my workflow by tripling the number of shots. With the latter, a "good" histogram did not necessarily give me a "good" picture. While the histogram is based upon objective science, what looks good to the eye is based upon a subjective esthetic. As long as the exposure was within a stop of so of giving a pleasing look, I could get a good print. Beyond that, the result was iffy. Things would get worse if the shot had high contrast or lacked mid-tones.

I recently switched to adjusting the exposure to give a good preview on the camera. The results are much more appealing visually and greatly reduce my developing time. This was a great big turnaround for me since I had argued so strongly for exposing to the right. Food for thought.