Highest Quality Capture: Workflow Phase I - Black and White in Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop Lightroom - page 55

Exposed to preserve highlight detail
Example 8. Preserved Highlight and Shadow Information
The feather image above illustrates a scene where the best exposure is
achieved by maintaining both shadow and highlight information and detail.
Notice the histogram data above for preserved highlight detail. There is not
a slam of information, as the data cleanly ends before either end of the chart.
This image captures and preserves both highlight and shadow information.
In determining exposure for this image, it is best to keep the highlights close to
the clipping point; the closer the highlights are to clipping, the less sensor noise
will be visible in the image. Ideal exposure with a digital camera (capturing the
greatest possible dynamic range with the lowest possible level of noise and
other undesirable digital artifacts at a given ISO setting) is always to bring the
raw data as close as possible without reaching the clipping point for non-
specular highlights.