In the old film days of photography, it would be days or even weeks after shooting before we could see the results. I would routinely use a procedure called “bracketing” to make a series of shots, each at a slightly different exposure, to increase the odds that one would come out decently exposed. Even today, when digital photography allows us to see the results immediately, there are two good reasons to employ the exposure bracketing technique: 1) it can be hard to assess on a small LCD screen in bright daylight and while in the excitement of shooting whether the exposure is really correct, and 2) when the contrast between the brighter and dimmer parts of the scene is high we may want to stitch several different exposures together using software to create a high dynamic range (HDR) image later.
Tricky subjects, like this tiny Svalbard reindeer against a glacier background, benefit greatly from exposure bracketing. From a series of 5, 7, or even 9 images shot at slightly different exposures, you can choose the one with the correct exposure for the conditions. Buy this photo
So there are still good reasons to use exposure bracketing, and fortunately, it is quite easy to employ this technique. Here’s how.
If possible, mount your camera on a tripod when using bracketing so it won’t move between exposures. Then you can combine several of the exposures into an HDR image later if desired.
If your camera has a bracketing button or menu item, use it to specify how many shots you want to take (I usually shoot 5 or 7 different exposures when bracketing) and how much you want to vary the exposure between each shot and the next (often I choose a 1-stop difference). If your camera lacks this feature, you can still use bracketing by manually adjusting the exposure between each shot and the next; just use your camera’s exposure compensation control to dial in first -2 stops, then -1 stop, then 0, then +1 stop, and finally +2 stops.
I like to set my camera for continuous shooting while bracketing. That way, I just hold down the remote shutter release and the camera shoots all 5 or 7 exposures in rapid succession. But it’s fine to shoot each frame individually in single release mode, if you prefer.
There are some subtleties to think about when employing exposure bracketing. Some cameras let you choose whether to vary the aperture, the shutter speed, or the ISO setting, while holding the other two settings constant. In most cases, I prefer to vary the shutter speed and hold the aperture and ISO settings constant, because changing the aperture affects the images’s depth-of-field, and changing the ISO setting can affect the noise in the image.
Later, during post-processing, you review the images and choose the one that is properly exposed. Or if the scene is very high contrast, you can use photo editing software such as Lightroom or Photoshop to stitch several frames in your series together into an HDR image, which ensures good exposure from the brightest to the darkest tones in your photo.
Several exposures were shot using bracketing and then combined in Photoshop to create this HDR image. All tones from the darkest shadows on the mountain walls to the brightest highlights on the icebergs and lake are properly exposed in the final image. Buy this photo
Have you used exposure bracketing techniques? What are your best practices? Do you use this process mostly for selecting the best exposure or for creating HDR images? Please share your thoughts here.
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