-4.0 Stops Underexposed... NO Noise!

Whenever I post about underexposing (or exposing for the highlights, which leads to an overall underexposed image), I'm met with numerous comments about how this will cause a lot of noise, and bracketing should be used. I don't use bracketing, and while it does have a time and place on older or crop sensor cameras, most newer full-frame cameras can deal with underexposed images flawlessly.

Here's a recent image I shot, for example. I shot it underexposed to preserve the highlight detail. Sure, I could have slightly brought up the exposure and preserved the shadows, but it was raining, and I was shooting on the run. Not to worry, as my camera's sensor (along with most other mirrorless full-frame cameras) can easily handle this kind of dynamic light.

To prove my point, I wanted to bring this image into Lightroom and increase the exposure by a whopping +4.0 stops. Most would be afraid of noise, but as you can see, hardly any noise is present.

The point of this reel is to show off that the range on your camera is probably more than you think. And if you shoot on a newer full-frame body, you probably don't need to use HDR. And sure, you could use HDR to be safe, but it adds an unnecessary step in the field and in post-processing and often results in unrealistic-looking images and/or ghosting due to blends that aren't clean. If you can't capture the dynamic range exposing for the highlights on a modern full-frame camera, the HDR image just isn't going to look realistic anyway.

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