is it better to render darker, or brighter, for post production? Instead of spending a lot of time trying to expose my scene, I usually get close, and tweak in post. Should I caution on the side of to bright, our to dark, our does it not matter?
Hi Bobby
I am rendering in 32bit exr and deal with exposure in PS, saves me some time and give flexibility for other adjustments.
me too, but does it matter if you start off with an under, or over exposed image.
I would say that under exposed as it is easier to make the scene or some elements brighter than taking opposite path.
I’ve been doing the oposite for 3d. I find over exposing gives more information.
though when taking photo’s i generally underexpose. though this isn’t as important with newer cameras.
i think the best thing is to hit the exposure just right in the render 
hehe… 
i too tend to make it look just right brightness-wise, but maybe a bit on the flat side of things. typical gamma 2.2 style and then apply curves to enhance the contrast. if you render too dark you will have lots of noise, no? and if you render too bright and you get clipping, then you can´t save those areas either… i find it easier to “burn in” extremer contrasts than the other way round.
best regards
christoph.
I agree with Christof, much better to give a slightly ‘flatter’ render than gives you the most amount of room to manipulate in post.
I am for nothing too dark and nothing too bright, my renders generally look a little flat, but i know that I can then use all the colour information to my advantage and increase contrast etc in Photoshop.