Getting ready to do some landscape shots and want to take bracketed shots for the shadows. I have a 5dmii should i set it at 1 over , 1 at zero , and 1 under.
Somebody told me that i should set first shot at zero, than 1under ,than 2 under.
What should i do, have never done this? These will be mountain photos with snow and blue skies using a CPL dont want the forground to be to dark which is what usually happens or the snow is blown out with a single exposure.
I generally bracket using half stop increments over the entire exposure range (-2 to +2).
Doing this, I still get the 1 over/under exposures within those parameters and it just costs me a few extra images, which is well worth the peace of mind.
Do keep an eye on your histogram in case the dynamic range is so wide that you have to shoot in manual to get an even higher or lower exposure than normal bracketing (-2 to +2) can produce.
There are no hard fast rules on properly bracketing exposures. The goal is to get the entire range of light/dark properly exposed. I typically go with half stop increments as John mentioned but I don't start in the middle and go up and down the exposure scale. I will start with the highlights properly exposed according to the histogram and then simply keep increasing the exposure one half stop until the shadows have been properly exposed. Depending on the light conditions that can be accomplished in as few as 3 shots or it could take 5 or more. The key is using your histogram.
Brad, so i would start metering on say the snow or bright areas of photo first than increase for dark or shadowed areas ?
Also which metering is best for landscapes ( center weighted, evaluate ) ????
Do you guys mostly use auto white balance or one of the other modes for landscapes ?
Jack - It doesn't really matter where you start, at the dark end, light end, or in the middle. The overall ideal is to make ure you have the entire exposure range covered. So you'd want at least one shot without any blown out whites, and one shot with no blocked shadows. (Or really, with the shadows up near the center of the histogram, to minimize noise.)
As far as how to meter, I'd use spot metering to make sure that the brightest or darkest part is metered to give you a starting point. But I usually just take the default metering and go down a couple of stops to start, then use the histogram to adjust.
Posted by rob ashcroft on July 10, 2012 at 5:56 PM
Jack
Just a tip. If things are moving in the scene and you are bracketing for blending the shots together and don't want any movement you can do the following.
After you have set the bracketing stops and are ready to fire, set auto-timer. All 3 shots will be fired in rapid succession hardly allowing any time for things to move - unless it's very windy. You also avoid camera shake. In good light conditions they should complete in well under a second. I'm not sure but I think the mirror stays locked up also, which helps reduce vibration further. You don't need to touch the camera after you press the shutter it will do it all for you.
I'm not sure this works on all cameras, but it works on my 5DM2.
Discussion
5 repliesSomebody told me that i should set first shot at zero, than 1under ,than 2 under.
What should i do, have never done this? These will be mountain photos with snow and blue skies using a CPL dont want the forground to be to dark which is what usually happens or the snow is blown out with a single exposure.
Doing this, I still get the 1 over/under exposures within those parameters and it just costs me a few extra images, which is well worth the peace of mind.
Do keep an eye on your histogram in case the dynamic range is so wide that you have to shoot in manual to get an even higher or lower exposure than normal bracketing (-2 to +2) can produce.
Also which metering is best for landscapes ( center weighted, evaluate ) ????
Do you guys mostly use auto white balance or one of the other modes for landscapes ?
As far as how to meter, I'd use spot metering to make sure that the brightest or darkest part is metered to give you a starting point. But I usually just take the default metering and go down a couple of stops to start, then use the histogram to adjust.
Just a tip. If things are moving in the scene and you are bracketing for blending the shots together and don't want any movement you can do the following.
After you have set the bracketing stops and are ready to fire, set auto-timer. All 3 shots will be fired in rapid succession hardly allowing any time for things to move - unless it's very windy. You also avoid camera shake. In good light conditions they should complete in well under a second. I'm not sure but I think the mirror stays locked up also, which helps reduce vibration further. You don't need to touch the camera after you press the shutter it will do it all for you.
I'm not sure this works on all cameras, but it works on my 5DM2.
Rob