I talk a lot here about Shadow Hacking, exposing better in camera zones and beyond. But today I was to show you something that almost no one is using in Lightroom, Raw, and Capture One. Recently I made a video about the least-known secret in Photography.

Now I’ll show you a way to edit exposure beyond the slider.

Learn more about exposure and shadow in my Shadow Hackers Live class and grab some free presets From Natural HDR and Filmist.

#1 Don’t think of Exposure as a slider.

Thinking more like you’re in the darkroom gives you a more complex view of how exposure works and relates to contrast, shadows, and lights.

The exposure slider in any app is just one way, one mix of volume and tone for those pixels. When you use curves, levels, and other methods you’re just adjusting the volume of those pixels in different ways like using EQ on your stereo.

Thinking this way keeps you from always doing the same thing and will let you easily adjust for higher or lower contrast situations like we did by pushing or pulling the film.

#2 Don’t do it all manually.

You don’t have to buy anything, you don’t have to use my presets. Or you may use mine but then make your own variants. That’s the beauty is saving things. It lets us repeat, then refine more with time. In doing so your entire process will improve.

Make these as presets, styles, and actions like I do in my mods and packs and you nyou will be glad you did.

They are simple recipes really and not like making a Film or advanced combo. Just a simple push and pull of tone and then you can turn them up and down with amount sliders or opacity layers. It’s magic.

#3 Mix it up.

In the video, I showed you different photos and how the same photo can work in more than one way. Exposure is not an absolute. Once you understand shadow hacking you know that with every photo you take.

Sometimes you want light, sometimes you want dark but those shadows are hard or soft and how they create contrast matters and the way you mix your exposure and tone boost makes a big difference.

On your stereo you have volume. But you also have EQ which is just volume targeted to specific frequencies or tones. Editing photos is the same and once you really get that there are no limits.

Go have some fun – Gavin Seim

But when I did the recent Natural HDR 4.1 update I wanted a video not about how to use the presets so much as how to create beautiful HDR Photography. Not your Grandpas HDR!

HDR mode presets, Shadows, and highlights. HDR Photography!

Tone is not what people think and neither is HDR so I’m finally making a video to put an end to the confusion. This is how HDR will change how you see tone and shadow practically in 2024.

Download my free HDR presets here and the free Filmist sampler pack here to use these ideas right now. Also don’t miss my next free Shadow Hackers LIVE workshop.

Don’t Expose to the right in HDR Photography – Expose, DARK?

In another video I showed you why Expose to the Right is Wrong. Today you see me going left and right on on shots I want dynamic range from. That’s because you need to expose RIGHT to what you are creating. Not to the right or left.

When you know Zones and exposure and how those relate you your histrogram like we talk about in Exposed. But you will soon learn when you understand exposure that meters don’t tell you the correct settings for your photo.

When I posted to my channel a few weeks ago, the least understood thing in photography I knew it was important. But the method of how to use it in the real world is what we see in today’s video.

Shadows are the easiest thing to recover with today’s sensors, software noise reduction etc. It’s mostly because shadows usually need to stay dark but clipped highlights ruin a photo fast.

I use Zones to expose. But I base the main exposure on how I will handle my highlights and ensure I retain shadows. Exposure for your photo, but often this means exposing dark.

Don’t look silly with your HDR Photography.

There’s no rule here. You can crush your histogram, push your clarity, and drive sliders hard. But unless you know how and why you are doing it, you will probably just look like an amateur, using decade-old techniques that feel fake and overused.

A great photo normally does not reveal its method to the average viewer. That is it makes an impact, but that impact is not in the effect itself. When viewers have seen an ugly HDR process used and your photo seems similar, the reactions will usually be predictable.

Know the effect you intend to create. Then do it in a balanced way. That’s the secret to using HDR today and getting magical results. Editing with good presets whether you make your own use a tool like Natural HDR 4 or use single RAW files will get you there fast.

Don’t create High Dynamic Range photography without Shadow

I sound like a broken record but it’s because the tone is the least understood skill in photography. The shadows save you. Don’t think. It’s too much shadow and therefore, not HDR. That’s not how this works, as I explain in the video.

HDR photography is the art of balancing shadows and highlights that are widely separated. It’s a method, not a filter. Once you learn that shadows are your friend in creating that balance, your HDR photos will be amazing and your LOFI photos will be improved by the same techniques.