post-exposure
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1. How does TTG define “post-exposure”?
TTG defines “post-exposure” as “anytime after the light from the scene first hits the recording surface.”
This is a change from the traditional definition of “any time after the recording surface has finished recording light from the scene.”
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2. Why does TTG use a new definition for “post-exposure”?
Because technologies have changed, and many cameras and devices now begin making changes to the image before the recording period has ended.
Since images can now be significantly altered before the recording process is completed — that is, before the shutter is “closed” — the clear traditional division between “pre-shutter” and “post-exposure” no longer applies.*
*TTG uses the term “pre-exposure” instead of “pre-shutter”
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3. Why does TTG make a big deal out of “post-exposure”?
Because the instant the light from the scene strikes the recording surface marks an important transition point in the making of a TTG photograph.
When it comes to non-“light”-related aspects of photographs, TTG makes a very strong distinction between visual effects determined by things that occur before the light hits the recording surface vs. visual effects determined by things that occur after the light hits the recording surface.
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4. And the term “post-exposure changes”?
On this website the term “post-exposure changes” covers anything done to the photograph after the light first hits the recording surface.
That holds regardless of whether those changes occur in the picture-taking device, on a computer, in a darkroom, or by any other means, and it applies regardless of whether the changes are done intentionally, automatically (by the device), or by accident.
The list of TTG’s Allowable Changes details all of the post-exposure changes that can be made to TTG photographs.
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5. What about the terms “post” and “post-processing”?
Those are usually just shorthand ways of saying “post-exposure processing.”
(See #1 above for TTG’s new definition of “post-exposure.”)
The phrase “I’ll fix it in post” often doesn’t apply to TTG photos