Highlight Tone Priority

[Photofarmer]

Anyone use the function.

Been playing with it barely see any difference at this stage.

Wondering lightning photography if it would make a difference.

Increased noise apparently maybe but can be fixed post.

 

[David Berry]

Anyone use Highlight Tone Priority?

Jan Wegener does.

 

[David Berry]

This is the problem that HTP addresses…

I hope this image illustrates the problem that Highlight Tone Priority addresses: a black and white bird! How do we preserve detail in the white feathers: I did my best by overriding the R5's auto-ISO but, obviously, I failed!

This is a screenshot from Lightroom Classic—LrC with camera information shown on the right:

• R5m1 + RF 100–500
• f/7.1 (maximum aperture)
• 1/2500 second
• ISO 800
• Exposure Compensation - ⅔ (aka exposure value -0.67EV)

Note how I attempted to preserve the highlights by reducing the EV (exposure value) by darkening the entire photo by two-thirds of a stop. This made everything too dark, not just the brightest feathers.

This is where Highlight Tone Priority comes to our rescue. Well, it's supposed to! I tried HTP shortly after taking this photo (August 2022) but gave up in despair. It's time — thanks to prompting by Jan Wegener and our own PF — to try again.

… David

 

[JustUs7]

I’ve incorporated it into my JPEG recipe under C1 for my sports shooting for the kids teams. I mess with exposure comp a tiny bit here and there - but with the 100-500 I find I’m always over 200 ISO at a minimum shutter speed of 1/1000th anyway. It works really well for straight to jpeg, no edits required.

I suspect if you’re shooting raw, you won’t really see a difference. I remember reading something about that, but would have to find it again. But basically it’s no different than under exposing a stop and bringing up shadows a stop or something.

Edit: Canon says it shifts the overall tone curve to preserve highlights and it affects both raw and jpeg. So there’s that.

 

[TwoWheeler]

This is the problem that HTP addresses…

I got more out of your explanation than I did his…. When he started in with ETTR, I audibly rolled my eyes.

Seeing your histogram -crammed to the left - and the little spike on the right that correlated to the brightest, whitest parts of your image kind of made it make sense. They’re baking a tone curve in.

I had always heard that HTP, along with Picture Styles and other things only affected JPEGs and the only reason RAW shooters should care about them is that they affect what you’re seeing in the EVF and LCD (and thus using to make judgement calls ).

Of course if they had called it ‘Protect Highlights” or something humans could understand, we might not be having this conversation.

 

[esheato]

Does using HTP for portraiture have any issues or does it work the same way? I mean, of course I’ll test it on my local faces, but still asking…

 

[Photofarmer]

Then there's auto lighting optimiser function as well whats that one do in theory sounds similar and jpeg only?

 

[Photofarmer]

Went looking for info HTP and found this vid

 

[David Berry]

When he [Jan Wegener] started in with ETTR, I audibly rolled my eyes.

TW…

Don't we all!

Vasko Obscura (video in post #6) is a wedding photographer. His version of ETTR (~ 6 minutes) seems to be:

• expose for the white wedding dress,
• but take out insurance by activating Highlight Tone Priority.

Now, let's see him get an oystercatcher of the pied variety properly exposed: those birds are literally black and white!

To me, the issue seems to be "Can we get detail in the whites without deliberately messing with the exposure of the remainder of the photo?".

… David

 

[TwoWheeler]

Then there's auto lighting optimiser function as well whats that one do in theory sounds similar and jpeg only?

“Highlight Tone Priority” and ‘Auto Lighting Optimizer” sound like they were written by the same person who conjured up my favorite error message from my old CAD/CAM software: “Range of blend on face too large”.

 

[David Berry]

Then there's auto lighting optimiser function.

Peter…

Auto Lighting Optimiser is disabled in M mode (which just happens to be the favourite mode of those given to tinkering with the arcane settings hidden deep in the menu system — I plead guilty).

… David

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Correct for the R5m2, but I suspect also for other R-series cameras.

 

[TwoWheeler]

Auto Lighting Optimiser

Sounds like something that might be handy if you had a date coming over for a little Scotch and sofa....

 

[Photofarmer]

thanks for all the help might play around with HTP

 

[David Berry]

I might play around with HTP.

Peter …

An image taken with HTP enabled looks fine on my R5m2's rear screen but appears severely underexposed after being denoised in DxO PureRAW.

This is my interpretation of what happens:

1. HTP darkens the entire image (so preventing the highlights from 'blowing out').
2. HTP lightens the image's shadows and mid-tones (but NOT the highlights) resulting in a 'perfect' image.
3. The 'formula' for step #2 is written into the metadata of the raw .CR3 file.
4. Lightroom Classic–LrC reads this embedded 'formula' and presents the 'perfect' image. Brilliant!
5. And now the bad news: run this file through DxO PR5 and the 'formula' embedded in the raw .CR3 file is stripped out. Oh no!
6. In the .dng file that DxO PR5 produces, everything — not just the highlights and whites but also the shadows and mid-tones — is too dark!

… David

 

[TwoWheeler]

An image taken with HTP enabled looks fine on my R5m2's rear screen but appears severely underexposed after being denoised in DxO PureRAW.

....but...but...some guys on the internet said it was a game changer!

 

[MikeZ]

Ahhh, that guy on the internet ....

 

[Bryan Conner]

Ahhh, that guy on the internet ....

I know a guy that knows that guy.

 

[David Berry]

About that 'guy on the internet' (Jan Wegener in particular) …

The following is a screenshot from comments on Jan's video (link in post #2):

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I hugely respect Jan Wegener's views and I have learned a great deal from him.

However, given that I do use DxO PR5, I'll skip Highlight Tone Priority (because every part of every image will be darkened) and rely on calming down the highlights by dialling in some negative exposure compensation (EC)… but only when necessary and not as a standard precaution.

• HTP = good
• PR5 = good
• HTP + PR5 = disaster

… David