Exposure bracketing.....

[Bobsyeruncle]

what settings do you recommend? I can set up my D7000 to take 3 bracketed shots, but not sure if I should use -1/0/+1 or -0.5/0/+0.5 etc.
Any tips?

 

[Ploddles]

I believe most go for -1/0/+1 at the very least and a good deal go even further at -2/0/+2 (sometimes doing that as a 5 bracket setup so -2/-1/0/+1/+2).

 

[sirch]

Spot meter the brightest part of the scene and the darkest part and set accordingly, which might not necessarily mean having correct exposure at the extremes depending on the range

 

[Kodiak Qc]

•


No one can recommend anything as it is DR dependent: DR of
the camera and DR of the scene.

Say your camera brand "X" has a DR of 7 stops and the scene
you want to take, 12 stops. You're short of 5 stops in DR. So to
cover the DR of the scene, you may go for more lighter steps or
fewer heavier steps,

The more steps, the less contrast in your stack i.e. flatter image.
The fewer steps, the more natural the end contrast.

How far apart? …based on these, tests will lighten you way!

Good luck, Robert!

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

•


No one can recommend anything as it is DR dependent: DR of
the camera and DR of the scene.

Say your camera brand "X" has a DR of 7 stops and the scene
you want to take, 12 stops. You're short of 5 stops in DR. So to
cover the DR of the scene, you may go for more lighter steps or
fewer heavier steps,

The more steps, the less contrast in your stack i.e. flatter image.
The fewer steps, the more natural the end contrast.

How far apart? …based on these, tests will lighten you way!

Good luck, Robert!

The question is is he taking a stack, or just covering his bets, exposure wise.?

 

[OldCarlos]

Robert, if you NEED more than 3 & have the camera set rock steady on a tripod & use a cable-release, you can get more than 3 bkt shots by utilising U1 & U2. (9 shots)

 

[snerkler]

what settings do you recommend? I can set up my D7000 to take 3 bracketed shots, but not sure if I should use -1/0/+1 or -0.5/0/+0.5 etc.
Any tips?

As above it's scene dependant, but if you're not confident metering the highlights and shadows the -2, 0, +2 is a good general setting. Modern cameras have great flexibility in post processing that those settings are enough 99% of the time. Of course, this assumes you've metered right in the first place. Just be aware that with the newer Nikon's (maybe the older ones too) even in matrix metering there's still a bias towards the focus point. Fine if you're taking an 'individual subject', but not so great sometimes for landscapes.

You can see this for yourself if you use liveview with exposure preview on, use matrix metering and then start moving the AF point around.

 

[Alastair]

what settings do you recommend? I can set up my D7000 to take 3 bracketed shots, but not sure if I should use -1/0/+1 or -0.5/0/+0.5 etc.
Any tips?

Why are you doing it? What do you want to achieve?

There's more than one reason to exposure bracket and how you go about it depends what your reason is.


.. but in general, three exposures +/- 1 stop is only useful if you're slightly unsure about the best single exposure to choose. It has negligible value for multiple exposure blending methods, eg. HDR.

 

[Bobsyeruncle]

Why are you doing it? What do you want to achieve?

There's more than one reason to exposure bracket and how you go about it depends what your reason is.


.. but in general, three exposures +/- 1 stop is only useful if you're slightly unsure about the best single exposure to choose. It has negligible value for multiple exposure blending methods, eg. HDR.

I was thinking about its benefit in landscape shots. Possibly trying say 3 exposures and blending for a wider dynamic range. Eg properly exposed skies rather than over exposed.

 

[Alastair]

I was thinking about its benefit in landscape shots. Possibly trying say 3 exposures and blending for a wider dynamic range. Eg properly exposed skies rather than over exposed.

Depends how bright the sky is, and the overall dynamic range. I generally shoot landscapes +/-2 to give the option of blending or tonemapping - but I'm also using a Foveon sensor so I have a lot of available highlight recovery anyway. Using +/-1 doesn't give you a lot of extra image data as most cameras will produce a raw file that can easily be pushed/pulled one stop. So I'd suggest +/-2 for most situations but consider going to +/-3 (or five exposures +/- 1.5, 3) when there's a lot dynamic range in the scene.

If you try this indoors.. a whole different ball game, I can easily end-up shooting 11-14 frames in a church-/cathedral-type setting and I don't even consider a 0 exposure.. just progressively work my way up from the lowest necessary EV to the highest.