what is bracketing

[andydo]

just been looking through the settings on my camera and it has 1 for bracketing, what is it?

[donoreo]

Originally Posted by andydo

just been looking through the settings on my camera and it has 1 for bracketing, what is it?

Bracketing is a setting that will take a photo "underexposed", properly exposed and "overexposed". I put those in quotes because that is based on what the metering system on the camera thinks is properly exposed.

The idea is that you are taking a shot that has lots of different light; bright areas, and dark areas. So you "bracket" shots under and over and then merge them together in an editor and try to get everything properly exposed.

Some cameras will do more than one under and over, and some are more adjustable on how much exposure compensation it uses on each.

[rbarry]

Andy,

Bracketing is a means of taking consecutive shots of the same subject at different settings. The most common use of bracketing is when you take one or more (usually three) images at different exposure levels of the same scene and then combine the images in post production to acheive a balanced exposure.

Depending on your camera, you may have the ability to take three, five, seven or even more photos in a range of differing exposures. Combine this with continuous shooting mode (this works with a Canon DSLR) and the camera takes the correct amount of shots for as long as you hold the shutter release button down.

Bracketing can also be used with a combination of shots at different depths of field by adjusting your focus point. You would have to make sure you were in single shot mode so you can adjust your focus for each shot. Macro photography may be enhanced by using this technique and is referred to as Focus Stacking.

Rick.

[andydo]

so instead of using auto function i could use this and see which expo. i think is the best

[GeoffWessex]

Originally Posted by andydo

so instead of using auto function i could use this and see which expo. i think is the best

Zackly!

And, while I might get some flaming for saying this, if you want to be creative, get yourself used to using manual controls (or at least having a manual input to a camera's 'Auto' selections). Make your own decisions regarding focus, metering and exposure.

[itakethepics]

A little good tutorial...

http://www.hdr-editing.com/2008/07/b...orial-hdr.html

[GeoffWessex]

Whoooaa - that tutorial is about HDR - the question was about bracketing. Yes, we know you need bracketing for HDR, but let's keep it simple..... bracket shots to ensure a decent exposure in one of them.

[KeithT]

We used to bracket with film to ensure at least one frame was correctly exposed. These days we have the histogram to tell us whether or not we have got the exposure correct or not. The real use for bracketing is as Geoff explains, so that we can either blend the shots together in our edit suite of choice, or create HDR images by blending more than one shot either side of the correct exposure to increase the dynamic range.