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instant feedback on sharpness, composition, and exposure, I find it lacking in providing a true visual of the correct exposure. Enter Highlight warning (found in the Playback menu on Nikon and Canon cameras; check your instruction manual to see if your camera offers this invaluable feature); this setting, when enabled, allows me to see problem areas in the brightest part of my image. If I have Highlight warning turned on (Figure 2.12) and there are parts of a scene that are blown out without any detail, the affected areas will blink black, white, black, white (Figure 2.13), warning me that there is an exposure issue that I should be aware of. Based on this information, I can choose to change the brightness of the overall scene using exposure compensation, bracket several exposures and blend them into an HDR (high dynamic range) image, or simply let it go and keep shooting. My choice is based on the subject and whether or not it is moving.

Figure 2.12 Highlight warning is enabled in the Playback menu.

Figure 2.13 The areas that blink black and white indicate blown-out (bright) highlights with no detail.

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Note

More on how I handle exposure issues is discussed in Chapter 3.

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ISO

Another great advantage of digital photography is the ability to change the ISO from one image to the next as the light values dictate. Even with the low-noise capabilities of today’s cameras, I still try to set my ISO at the lowest setting I can get away with to maintain the lowest noise and highest resolution in my images. However, if I do need to increase my ISO to make sharp images, I can do so with confidence, knowing that my images will be crisp and relatively low noise (Figure 2.14). The amount of noise generated from high ISO settings varies from camera model to camera model. Cameras with full-frame sensors and greater pixel depth tend to produce low noise images even at high ISO settings. All of today’s digital cameras do a much better job than those just a few generations old.

Figure 2.14 An ISO setting of 1600 enabled me to photograph a pair of bald eagles perched on a cliff in low light while hand holding my telephoto lens.

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Tip

Increasing your ISO should only be done when the benefit of the higher ISO (faster shutter speed) outweighs the increase in noise.

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Color Space

Digital cameras have two color space options: sRGB and Adobe RGB (Figure 2.15). For the Web, sRGB is the color space used. Most computer screens don’t have the resolution to show the full color gamut of an Adobe RGB image; therefore, if you are working on images for email or the Web, sRGB is the color space best suited for the job. If, however, you plan to output your images to print or work on them extensively in the digital darkroom and want the greatest color gamut and even transitions, Adobe RGB is the color space to use. With its millions of colors compared to hundreds of thousands of sRGB files, the color and tonal transitions are smoother and color accuracy is easier to achieve. If you have your camera set to shoot in RAW format, it is a moot point which color space you use. But coming from the school of getting it right in the camera, I make a habit of setting everything I can in-camera to avoid errors and long processing time in the digital darkroom. As a result, if I decide to change to say shooting in JPEG format for a project, I don’t have to remember to change my color space.

Figure 2.15 This image illustrates the difference in size between sRGB and Adobe RGB color spaces.

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Note

Color space is only applicable when processing images with software that utilizes color spaces, such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.

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File Number Sequence

It’s easy for a photographer to get carried away when out in the field surrounded by wildlife and shoot several cards in a day. Depending on how you edit and file your images, you may end up with several card’s worth of images in one folder. If you have File number sequence turned on, you can easily add card after card of images into