Middle grey
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You are currently reading a thread in /p/ - Photography
You are currently reading a thread in /p/ - Photography
So, what can you tell me about middle gray and camera metering?
Everyone writes that a camera's meter, without exposure compensation, will try to achieve a histogram mean value of middle grey.
But no one says whether they mean:
* A middle gray value of RGB(128,128,128) as defined by the sRGB color space
* A middle gray value of RGB(124,124,124) as on defined by an 18% reflectance gray card,
* A middle gray value of RGB(188,188,188) as defined by absolute whiteness.
Without this, the ONLY FUCKING USE for a histogram is to see whether the photo touches the edges and is therefore over- or underexposed. Nothing else. "Shoot to the center" is retarded if you want a dark photo, and "shoot to the right" is retarded if you don't want a bright photo (except that editing down to proper exposure degrades pixel quality massively).
So... I know what the metering modes do, but not what value of brightness from 0-255 they are actually trying to "mean out" to, in each their own way.
>>2711788
18% gray.
>>2711792
This says literally nothing. Be specific and try agian.
ettr witgout clipping highlights
>>2711825
>But no one says whether they mean:
>* A middle gray value of RGB(128,128,128) as defined by the sRGB color space
>* A middle gray value of RGB(124,124,124) as on defined by an 18% reflectance gray card,
>* A middle gray value of RGB(188,188,188) as defined by absolute whiteness.
It's 18% gray. What is the confusion?
ETTR is the best way to maintain the best image quality in your photo, regardless of your final photo, because assuming you're post processing, you'll create the desired exposure level in post .
If you're shooting something white, add 2 stops of EV comp. If you're shooting something black, add -2
The questions you're asking don't really affect photography, they affect Sony level technician faggotry. Go outside and take some photos.
>>2711827
ETTR is shit that only increases quality in one scenario of use and decreases it in every other scenario of use. Never ETTR. Find the article: Why "Expose to the Right" is just plain wrong — it won't let me post the link here.
I found the article explaining the math behind 18% gray. It corresponds to 50% brightness or the sRGB(128,128,128) mentioned above. The confusion was which one of the three RGB values was right.
This stuff has practical value to the extent that you have to expose and meter when you shoot photos, and even more value in post.
Thanks.
>>2711788
Not all cameras meter to the same gray.
More prefer a little lighter, some prefer a little darker.
It's not an exact science.
>>2711836
>50% brightness or the sRGB(128,128,128)
128 isn't the middle of brightness because the scale isn't linear.
Something many programmers get wrong, btw.
>>2711836
Good luck with your technician's lifestyle. Most people on this board (and indeed, throughout the entire world) have no idea about this stuff, and take photos just fine.
>>2711836
ETTR doesn't mean clip the highlights.
As long as you don't clip highlights you get better quality with ETTR in every situation, without exception.
You're simply capturing more light, so you get a cleaner signal to noise ration.
>>2711842
It is. Ever hear of CIELAB? L*a*b? The L stands for Lightness. L* = 50 is the same as RGB(128,128,128) in sRGB, and 118 in Adobe RGB, and 100 in PhotoPro.
LIGHT is not linear. That is why all of this is only equal to 18% gray and not just 50%.
>>2711844
You do not get a cleaner signal to noise ratio. Read.
>>2711788
Middle grey is always the 18% grey card, meters have been working like this since forever and in no way "no one says whatever they mean"
>>2711845
http://www.4p8.com/eric.brasseur/gamma.html
>>2711846
Yes you do.
You are wrong, sorry.
>listening to the camera light meter religiously
>not just using sunny 16 and using past experiences to meter light
>whip out a light meter when you're absolutely unfucking sure of what to do
If you must use your camera light meter, use the spot/center meter and expose for the shadows/highlights accordingly. Pretty easy to do on a Leica M6.
>>2711858
Aside from being unable to find a date for when it was published, that was great. Thanks. But when my camera is metering with no exposure compensation and I shoot a grey card, the majority of pixels land around lightness 128. It's the center of the histogram. Then Nikon should be added to the list of people who don't get this, and everyone else. Our curves should always be more to the right. Of course, most photos would end up overexposed if they accepted 180 as middle gray in stead of 128. The article explains why there is a difference between middle gray as defined by, say, sRGB (linear) and absolute whiteness (power), I guess. But it doesn't say anything about my meter.
>>2711859
You don't. I referenced evidence that you do not with images and a detailed description of methodology. Your SNR decreases with ETTE.
>>2711888
Nobody is talking about this
Please leave
>>2711836
I skimmed your article. It seems to have been written by some retard who shoots at iso 6400 in broad daylight and compares uncalibrated color charts to other uncalibrated color charts and tries to claim one is more correct.
>when you offset exposures by using ETTR, what you are doing at the same time is to completely upset a whole bunch of carefully calculated tweaks to make your images look better
If you're really going to trust adobe to pick how your pictures should look with their magical mystery tweaks why aren't you just shooting jpeg in auto mode?
>>2711788
It's whatever the fuck the camera manufacturer though looked good. Your camera's meter isn't a precision photometer it's just some bullshit they stuck in there to make the pictures about the right brightness.
