First, some context: virtually all of my pics are portraits and are well exposed esp for the mid tones. For the most part I try to get it right with the camera. I use DT to primarily convert to B&W and produce stellar B&W portraits of those pics.
The videos from Boris and others show they use Exposure to (in my words) “blow out” the image, not just get the mid-tones right. I recall either Boris and/or others explaining it in their videos as “don’t worry, we want to get everything in…and processing the other modules would correct (for the blow out)”. So I adopted that technique and it seems to work. Am I misusing Exposure? Why are the others doing that makes them go past “getting the mid-tones right”?
for color calibration and color balance RGB: don’t worry too much about the histogram.
Istvan, let me ask the “negative” question: is there a reason we should not rely on the histogram in using these modules? I find the combination of looking at the image and the histogram (and how the changes affect them) powerful, irreplaceably valuable as the histogram tells me what my eye may miss.
Quick responses:
a) I shall read up on Aurelien’s post on brilliance grading/masks;
b) yes, sigmoid (and filmic) are not as relevant for images where there’s low dynamic range (e.g., some of my portrait pics) and it explains why after using sigmoid the local contrast module was mostly moot and if sigmoid was not used, adjusting the sliders in local contrast helped;
c) yes, the Exposure adjustment at the end is very minor. Thank you for the technical explanation, Istvan.
d) time for me to check out and play with Tone Eq. For my use of DT–conversion to and production of stellar B&W portraits–Tone Eq may be invaluable.