Style to underexposure

[Canosonic]

An unknown photographer said a great quote:
[FONT=georgia, bookman old style, palatino linotype, book antiqua, palatino, trebuchet ms, helvetica, garamond, sans-serif, arial, verdana, avante garde, century gothic, comic sans ms, times, times new roman, serif]One photo out of focus is a mistake, ten photo out of focus are an experimentation, one hundred photos out of focus are a style. [/FONT]

Does this fit to underexposure? I have noticed a lot of my photos are underexposured, my camera is always set to do so because i always think the shot is better when its darker, only later , when viewing I wonder if they are too black? Is this OK or should i quit it?

 

[JerryPH]

When your camera is doing it... its user error. When YOU are doing it on purpose to achieve a certain style, that is style.

I know a photographer that shades most of his things a tinge of green... looks good.

 

[Big Mike]

Underexposure and overexposure are not good words to use.
You can look at a photo and say that it's underexposed....but if that's how the photographer wanted it to look...is it really underexposed?...or is it exposed perfectly to fit the photographer's vision?

I suggest that you don't worry too much about it.

On another note, I usually go for slight over exposure (shoot to the right) to minimize noise.

 

[Garbz]

Correct quote:
One photo out of focus is a mistake, ten photo out of focus is user error, one hundred photos out of focus means you throw away your camera.

Kidding. Photography is an art (IMO despite what some people think), and quite a lot of things pass for art. I saw an exhibit almost entirely comprised of motion blur, and not the sharp dragging the shutter kind. The "take a 10 exposure of the city hand held" kind.

The question is can you find someone else to appreciate that style.

 

[musicaleCA]

Indeed. Photography had better darn well be an art, or I'll have to reconsider why the heck I'm doing it. :greenpbl:

 

[Digital_zen]

Just refer to it as "low-key", it'll sound so much better, as if you did it on purpose. I tend to shoot a little "low-key" also, but will often go "high-key" with shots of kids and such. I have a really great shot that has nuclear highlights and it's OOF, but it would not have been half as nice without these two No-Nos. And it's a people shot, not rly a portrait, but a "mother-and-chilld" shot. If you want I'll post it to show what I mean.

 

[Canosonic]

Ok, I'll chill down about it. I shoot mostly in Aperture priority and the exposure compensation is usually below zero and in lightroom I usually boost the darks and shadows. Thanks!

 

[ann]

With slide film, it was very common to underexposure about 1/3 of a stop to increase saturation.

when i began with digital i did that as well, but in the past few years i have changed and now tend to move the exposure to the right.

Digital reacts much differently than slide film (as well as negative)

 

[FrankLamont]

I also shoot right, as though you can save detail in shadows, noise overruns the place.

Besides, you can recover a lot with RAW nowadays.

You use a meter? If so, let it be around the 0 to +1 points.

 

[Canosonic]

So half an year past and I found the reason why some of my photos are under-exposed (low-key, dark etc.). My camera screen was uncalibrated. I still lean to make my pictures dark, but not it's not that bad anymore.

 

[iflynething]

There is a difference between underexposed and using a higher shutter speed to give more contrast. I shoot RAW and if my meter says 1/250 sec will give a proper exposure, I'll shoot 1/320-1/400 not to underexpose, but to give more contrast.

Since I'm shooting RAW, I can ever so slightly being the image back up as if it were shot at 1/280th or 1/300 but just enough to where its not dark.

How's your historgram look? post a picture!

~Michael~

 

[Garbz]

... That goes against all common knowledge of how digital photography works. Everything would indicate that one should expose to the right and then adjust to the left will give you a better image than exposing to the left and adjusting to the right.

You're the first person I know who's gone against the expose to the right tradition. :?