Best exposure for fog?

Hey,

On a generally foggy day, if I use the "expose to the right" technique,
it seems like I have to do a lot of down adjusting to the RAW files to
get them to look right...which makes me think exposing to the right
might not really be what I want to do in such a situation. So here are
the questions...

1. When is it not a good idea to expose to the right?
2. What is too much adjusting in adobe camera raw? (if you have to
move the shadows slider to the 70's range, saturation to 50, etc, what
should have been done differently in the original exposure?)

I don't have anywhere to post examples tonight, but I'll try to post a
follow up tomorrow with links.

Thanks, Brian

Brian wrote:
Hey,

On a generally foggy day, if I use the "expose to the right" technique,
it seems like I have to do a lot of down adjusting to the RAW files to
get them to look right...which makes me think exposing to the right
might not really be what I want to do in such a situation. So here are
the questions...

1. When is it not a good idea to expose to the right?
2. What is too much adjusting in adobe camera raw? (if you have to
move the shadows slider to the 70's range, saturation to 50, etc, what
should have been done differently in the original exposure?)

I don't have anywhere to post examples tonight, but I'll try to post a
follow up tomorrow with links.


Good questions, I'm pretty new at this but I'll discuss my thoughts &
maybe reveal some of the issues. Comments & corrections are very welcome.

I assume when you say 'expose to the right' you mean try to get it as
bright as possible without blowing highlights? To me that rule generally
has me underexposing though I suppose not in fog.

In adobe camera raw hold down the alt key while sliding shadows it shows
when clipping occurs. Same for exposure. Supposedly brighness & contrast
do not clip though if you watch the histogram you can see that's not
true. Supposedly the adjustments should be made from the top down:
exposure
shadows
brightness
contrast
saturation
though I'm not clear why, but if exposure is actually gaining some
benefit working with raw like allowing a legitimate bracketing then
experimenting in the raw dialogue should be able to answer these
questions. It can help to zoom way in & observe noise & posterization
problems, also, temporarily blasting the saturation & contrast will
emphasize those problems... hmm I'm not sure about that, I know curves
can do that.

Hmm, here's a question: what purpose does the brightness adjustment
serve? Wouldn't it be better to use the exposure first? Well if you
follow the order, yes it should go first & shadows before contrast. I
guess boost exposure & shadows as much as possible without clipping then
the others if you want more.

Digital has better shadow detail than film but underexposing still risks
putting more noise in the shadows. Shooting a foggy sky it is real easy
to lose the subtle gradations in the sky so it makes sense to me to
underexpose.

Here is a hazy sunrise given extremely more darkness & richness but
revealing significant noise (still I liked the color but there isn't
really enough info in the initially hazy bland shot for that much richness):
http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php&DIR=California/Bay-Area/San-Francisco/2005-01-25-sunrise

Here is a bright foggy sky where the subtle gradations got a nasty
posterization and grittiness:
http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php&DIR=California/Bay-Area/San-Francisco/2005-01-24-mission-theaters&PG=2&PIC=11
I worked hard to emphasize the sky tones and probably would have
benefited from a darker initial exposure. I think I used curves also to
adjust both of these.

If the exposure adjustment is the real deal with raw, I might consider
making two bracketed images from the raw converter & merging them in PS
for sky & ground rather than using curves to correct. Ultimately all
that adjusting & contrast increase work creates more noise &
posterization & loses information.