Something to stew on and test...
ETTR (expose to the right) might be dead.Huh? That's right. It might
be dead with the newest versions of Lightroom.
The latest set of presets seems to presume proper exposure, not
maximum exposure. Even with the 6D, it gives decent colors and tones
if the midtone exposure is where it is supposed to be, not plus or
minus a stop or more. There is a native curve adjustment that the new
presets use that appear to be based on a midtone exposure. If your
midtone exposure is skewed because of ETTR, the curve is misapplied
and the distribution of tones will be wrong. The colors are also
skewing if the preset is designed to correct color issues with the
camera, such as the 6D's blue shadows.
As I'm pretty free with my bracketing of exposures, I've been
experimenting around with pictures that have multiple brackets, and
almost without exception, the exposure that requires the least amount
of midtone adjustment is the one that ends up looking the best.
Previously, it was a given that you ETTR in-camera and apply the
necessary curves adjustment during conversion or in the editor to
properly distribute the tones. This kept image noise to a minimum and
maximized dynamic range. Today's cameras have adequately addressed
both issues with really clean pixels and a much wider dynamic range.
>From my testing, it looks like Adobe has made the new presets
normalized to a proper midtone and is working the highlights and
shadows based on the midtone value, not the maximum value. The old
presets either didn't have that level of intelligence or were based
more on ETTR.
AG (Midtone) Schnozz
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