A good technical tip for those shooting RAW and using the ETTR technique.

[milosh]

This was posted recently on a blow written by my probably favorite landscape photographer: Fine Art Landscape Photography of Seung Kye Lee

It's very simple and logical, but it's also something I've never seen posted as a tip, or thought of myself.

The fact is that when you shoot RAW, the image your camera displays on its LCD preview screen is a jpeg image made by camera using the current jpeg settings. This jpeg image is also the source from which your camera shows the photo's histogram. So, the histogram you see is not the actual histogram of the RAW file. The more aggressive (so to say) jpeg settings you have, the more the histogram your camera shows will differ from the histogram of the actual RAW file.

Therefore, go to your camera's jpeg settings and select a manual setting with the lowest possible contrast and saturation (because you're also using the three-channel histogram).

This may not be much, but when using the expose-to-the-right technique, it may give you just a little more exposure, which you otherwise wouldn't be aware of.




P.S. If I didn't make myself clear, please tell me to re-explain. My thoughts are bit chaotic this evening.

[ArmySoldier777]

I've never thought about that . Guess I need to go take a look at my camera settings. I haven't shot Jpeg in a couple years, but the changes are still there. I'm interested to see if I can tell a difference next time I go out to shoot.

Thanks for posting this


David

[metallion58]

I shoot RAW most of the time but sometimes I use RAW + JPEG.
And I've set it to vivid.
This might change a few things...and explain a few more.
Thanks for the tip.

[SwissJon]

Never ever shot a jpeg photo on this camera. No idea where to find the settings for a D7000. Any ideas anyone?

[RLucas]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

Never ever shot a jpeg photo on this camera. No idea where to find the settings for a D7000. Any ideas anyone?

It should be in the Optimize menu. I set everything in that menu to as much of a neutral value as possible.

[Bruce A]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

Never ever shot a jpeg photo on this camera. No idea where to find the settings for a D7000. Any ideas anyone?

Did you get a Chinese manual Jon?

[SwissJon]

Originally Posted by Bruce A

Did you get a Chinese manual Jon?

I have NO IDEA where my manual is, or even if I got one.. I'm an average man.. Give me an electronic thing, and I'll press all the buttons until I work out what they do.. I leave reading manuals to my wife.. She's just started the one for the TV remote

Nope.. I've checked, I can't find an "Optimise" menu.. Never mind.. I've been photographing with this camera for months, it seems to do what I expect. The histogram in LR seems to match the histogram on the camera. I guess I stumbled onto the right settings like the bumbling fool I am.

[Bruce A]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

I have NO IDEA where my manual is, or even if I got one.. I'm an average man.. Give me an electronic thing, and I'll press all the buttons until I work out what they do.. I leave reading manuals to my wife.. She's just started the one for the TV remote

Nope.. I've checked, I can't find an "Optimise" menu.. Never mind.. I've been photographing with this camera for months, it seems to do what I expect. The histogram in LR seems to match the histogram on the camera. I guess I stumbled onto the right settings like the bumbling fool I am.

Jon - press your menu button, go to Shooting menu (1st on list showing the little camera), and you'll see image quality, image size, Jpeg compression and NEF (RAW) recording and a whole lot of other good stuff