frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

I agree, and you give perfect examples, which are great BTW.

Vincejr Loc: Northern Kentucky

What the photographer wants.

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Charlie C Loc: North Liberty, IA

Right on the money, Martinfisher.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Instead of the "Exposure Triangle" of my yesteryears, my current digital photography "triangle" is relatively equally weighted: = Focus / Exposure / Post Process, all done to achieve my intended situational Composition (what's in "my mind's eye") and frame filling, captured vision of the selected scene. I love SOOC, and all forms of "Auto & Scene Recognition", but more often than not, each time I come back to an SOOC/Auto shot, I'm tweaking it in PP, to polish/finalize the capture.

I shoot mostly Manual, followed by AP - Why? I grew up on film and manual cameras, understand composition and light, know what my intent is, so it just feels natural for me - YMMV. Do I use the rest of the dial when the convenience is helpful, or situation begs it, of course, as well as all the other features and capabilities of my equipment that fit the situation. At this age/stage of my development, Composition is ingrained and it seems my eyes/mind know what the light meter is going to tell me, where "auto" is going to take me, what shutter speed I need, etc. etc.

There is a plethora of great insight in this thread (and many others over time), when you read and digest the information, and put together all the better points and explanations (without naming and quoting all the great contributors), the question is answered (to me).
mike

BebuLamar

I like your Triangle better than the stupid "Exposure Triangle".

cassie246

New to photography. What do you mean by RAW. Camara came with no directions. I am trying to figure ot out.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

First, Define Proper Exposure, IMHO it varies with each individual as the proper exposure is what you want, the effect, the reflection of what you see. We are ARTISTS, not machines, if the perfect 18& gray is not what I want then the perfect exposure is not perfect!

Rant Over, have a good day!, Bob.

BTW That's why I sometimes do not comment on others work, it's their vision.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

The most important part of making a good picture is the nut behind the camera.

srt101fan

No need to apologize for your earlier post, Bill. But now, a comparison with Chris? That really hurts!

I'll try to clarify the reason for my question. I've been taking photos for a long time. I find interesting visual subjects in just about everything, so I'll shoot any time, any place. I don't claim to be a good photographer, or even a photographer, but I have gotten a few good ones along the way.

In going over my many photographs (mostly black & white film and now digital) I find that exposure has not been at the top of my "problem" list. Unless the lighting was really difficult, such as too high a dynamic range or trying to do too much with too little light, etc, I found that getting a good exposure wasn't all that difficult.

There are many other things that have kept me from a collection of wall-hangers.

Timing is one of them. With moving or potentially moving subjects, shutter-release timing may be critical to get the "story". I'm a long way from Cartier-Bresson's "Decisive Moment" skill!

Along with picking the right time to release the shutter, it's important to be able to react quickly to changing subjects. I'm pretty slow in processing that kind of information and making needed adjustments.

Reading the light (including assessing the dynamic range) is another essential photographic skill I haven't mastered. I don't usually spend enough time on this, partly because I sometimes get too wrapped up in the subject and composition. I haven't learned to slow down, even when I have the opportunity for a more deliberate approach to the shot.

With people photography, I haven't mastered establishing the proper rapport with a subject, to make a subject comfortable, and get them away from the "standard" posing (the usual response to "say cheese"). So I used to try candid shots, but those also come with a set of issues.

I could add others, but I hope you can better understand where I'm coming from.

So, again, getting the "right" exposure hasn't been my biggest issue. And I still don't understand why it so often seems to rise to the top in UHH comments (just think of how often Peterson's book is mentioned!). And I do understand and admire the exposure approach used by Gene51, rmalarz and others that combine careful metering with planned post-processing in a kind of "systems" approach. Those are worthwhile approaches to study and learn from. I'm thinking more of priorities for novices.

As usual though, when I engage in these brain exercises, I have to remind myself that photography covers a vast spectrum of types and styles. I think a problem on UHH is that people often present opinions on how to do this or that, or what to do or not do, that really do not have universal photographic applicability.
So it all depends on the kind of photography you do, right?

boydcrochet

Correct exosure leads to better image qualty. The definition of "correct" may change with the ability of the individual cameras' RAW images.

Shooting with intent is best. Keep ISO low, expose for highlights, know the more you need to lift shadows the more noise suppression you need to execute in post.

Professional looking images do not get there by accident. And you still need light and line compositin.

RichardSM Loc: Back in Texas

I totally agree. Focus focus focus......

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

I think exposure is talked about more, not that it’s more important, but because I think the need for focus is a given and composition is subjective.

d2b2 Loc: Catonsville, Maryland, USA

One of the issues is, what exactly is correct exposure? I have a niece that is an extraordinarily successful wedding photographer, and a lot of her photography is consistently over exposed, from my perspective. But her clients love it. It is a matter of style. I tend to under expose by a hair. I have had several people tell me that I should lighten up some of my photos. In each case, we are going for a given mood. Whether the photos are printed to the precise level of lighting that existed in the original environment would seem to be inconsequential. Because again, it is a matter of personal style.

Jodevoy

Bill de and CHG CANON - I’d be interested in what you have to say about getting sharp focus.