There are specific processes for which you don't want to expose to the right or to maximize the exposure. In particular, you don't want to do it while focus stacking. In focus stacking, you want to leave a little headroom on your highs. The reason has to do with the out of focus highlight and the fact that when you take a frame where those highlight are in focus, they will register much brighter.

For an example, when a test chart is in focus, the contrast between white and black is at it's highest and the whites are their whitest. As it becomes more defocused, a blending between the black and white occurs and a graying takes place. If its totally out of focus the chart will become a uniform shade of gray. a real world example of this occurence is when we shoot wide open to knock out the detail in the background, we are blending the light in the background so that the highs and lows are no longer distinct.

Although there is a small leeway for exposure differences between individual images in the stack, the software works best when the same exposure is used for the entire stack. As it is likely that there are highlights that will be brighter when in focus than in the first image of the stack, you want to set your exposure before the blinkies. You don't want to expose to the right.

I realize theat focus stacking is a bit of a niche. But as more and more cameras have focus stacking as a feature, it's usage is growing. Therefor, the general rules that we use for exposure (blinkies, ETTR) may have to be modified. I don't recall any such caveat in all the posts on exposure.

I'm glad this topic came up. It must be me BUT I have tried both the Denoise and AI Sharpen with disappointing results. I say it must be ME because everyone that has posted is loving it! One particular image I was trying to improve was just slightly off focus and using all three modes of AI Sharpen did not really improve sharpness overall and in fact added some strange artifacts. Then I thought well I will download the trial of AI Denoise and concluded that the same results can be obtained through OnOne or PS Camera Raw module. I used the auto and manual modes but certainly didn't get the results marketed. Any tips?

When "very close to main subject," you need to do small areas, with small brush, and zoom in very closely. Also, varying opacity can help. Think multiple layers of paint when you're doing a room.

Thanks for noticing my new "much photoshopped" mug

Don't forget there is a Post-Processing Forum on UHH:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-116-1.html

Come by anytime and we can work on individual tasks you want to accomplish. Small bites, one day at a time.