Going Flat Out

By Steven Reid

One of my favourite tips from my DLSR days can be revitalised for today’s Mirrorless world.

When shooting a DSLR most people would “chimp” to check the image’s exposure, but few would stop to consider what they were looking at. When shooting RAW the histogram and highlight/shadow warnings on the back of the camera are coming from a JPEG file embedded within the RAW. This means that the actual RAW file will contain a greater dynamic range with a little more latitude for retaining highlights and shadows than the warnings would suggest.

So how does this relate to modern mirrorless cameras? Well with simulated exposures visible in the EVF (Electronic View Finder) we are basically chimping all the time and not many photographers are actually considering what it is they are looking at…

So if your EVF is displaying a histogram or the super useful real-time shadow and highlight warnings, you have to ask your self what is being clipped the RAW file or the EVF.  To test this, change your image/colour profile to see what affect it has on your viewfinder.

For me personally I have found it best to shoot with a flat or low contrast profile to push my RAW files as hard as I can. I find my self doing this the most in aviation photography as I try to get as much detail as I can in the shadows whilst pushing my highlights right up to the clipping point.