The second step to fine art photography is capturing the proper exposure.  There is more to this than pointing the camera in the direction of the subject and pushing the PHS button.  This step is very important because the final quality of your image is dependent upon getting the proper initial exposure. 

Camera light meters are not absolutely accurate.  All of them will underexpose most images at least 1/3 of a stop from the actual reflectance of the subject they are reading (if you want to know why just ask.  I don't have room to go into it here.  Just know that this applies equally to digital and film).  Also, using a matrix light reading in-camera will allow a mechanical device to make critical exposure decisions that you should be making yourself. The matrix meter will try to average the reflectance readings and give you a "middle ground exposure".  If all you want is a JPG image for printing snapshots or for posting on line this is adequate.  In that case you don't need to do anything else or read any further.  However, if you are trying to take your photography to another level for large presentation prints you need to do more.

When capturing an image for a planned exhibit in the gallery I like to mount the camera on a tripod,  if at all possible.  I check to make sure I am shooting in RAW format then I set the camera exposure meter to the manual setting.  I set the ISO rating as low as possible on the camera and on my old LunaProF hand-held light meter. I then use the LunaProF to get an incident light reading.  The incident reading allows all of the tones from the subject to be recorded according to their actual reflectance.  This provides the native range of contrast in the subject.

Next,  I take a test shot and check the camera histogram.  I'm hoping that this first shot will be centered or slightly to the right of center in the histogram.  If it is,  I lock the focus on manual, then lock the mirror up and set the camera to bracket five shots at one f-stop each.   Two shots under the shutter speed that I have set manually, one right on, and two shots over.   One of these will probably be dead on and it might not be the one you had anticipated.  DO NOT BRACKET F-STOPS as this will change your depth of field and cause areas of your image to be out of focus.

You can do a little adjusting of exposure in Photoshop RAW, but you should remember that underexposure means that you did not capture all of the data.  You cannot create something from nothing.  If you didn't capture it, it is not there.  If you try to push that underexposed area it will lack contrast and tonal value.  Also, pushing the exposure more than a stop damages pixels and damaged pixels don't usually lend themselves to the making of high-quality, large, fine art photographs.

If you have to err in the initial exposure it is better to be a little bit "over" exposed.  You can always reduce exposure in RAW processing without damaging pixels as long as you haven't burned out any important parts.  The expression among professional photographers is E.T.T.R.  Expose To The Right.

This means that you should try to keep most of your exposure to the right of center on your histogram.  Just be aware that any part of the right side of your mountain chart that climbs the boundary on the far  right might be burned out.  Or, if it touches the boundary on the left side of the graph it might be black.

Capturing the RAW image in your camera is only the beginning.  The real work of processing fine art photography takes place on your computer.  That will be the next discussion.