How Exposure to the Right Can Improve Your Images

We are all always striving for better and better image quality, and a lot of the time, it simply comes down to improving our techniques or trying new methods. One such method is exposure to the right, and this great video tutorial will show you what it is and how it can improve your photos. 

Coming to you from Apalapse, this helpful video tutorial will show you how you can improve the quality of your images by using the exposure to the right (ETTR) technique. The basic idea of this technique is getting the maximum exposure you can without beginning to clip the highlights. This gives you the most information to work with in your files, which in turn means less noise (especially in the shadows) and more (often a lot more) post-processing latitude, which can be particularly useful in a genre like landscape photography where you might be pushing your files around quite a lot. The danger is that in pushing your exposure right to the upper brink, you may accidentally go a bit too far and start clipping highlights, which is why it is crucial to check your images in real-time and use something like your camera's built-in highlight alert system. Check out the video above for the full rundown. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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He should be told that the white balance heavily affects the final histogram. So if you expose to the right, make sure your white balance is correct or close to what the final image will.
ETTR is a risky thing. That hype appeared some years ago but was less heard recently. So of course some youtuber digs it out again. But I wouldn't care, because at max you "gain" 2/3 EV but risk clipped high lights. It is not worth the effort. Use a faster lens or a longer shutter speed.