HDR Best Exposure combination..


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sachinohms

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Hi,

from your experience which exposure setting is best for HDR

EV 0,+2,-2

OR

EV 0,+1,-1

Thanks,
 

Depends on the scene. There is no magic formula
 

Hi,

from your experience which exposure setting is best for HDR

EV 0,+2,-2

OR

EV 0,+1,-1

Thanks,

depends on scene.

sunset timings can need up to -4,-3,-2,-1,0,+1,+2,+3,+4

depending on what you're shooting, it's possible
 

Thanks, Please can you guys elaborate "Depends on Scene", i have not done much HDR and not sure which EV to be used for which scene.
 

Thanks, Please can you guys elaborate "Depends on Scene", i have not done much HDR and not sure which EV to be used for which scene.

it is simple.

think of a scene as a stack of blocks of light.

scene A is a daylight scene, let's just say it has 3 blocks of light. each time you click the shutter of the camera, you capture a block, because the camera's sensor has limited ability to capture the brightest point to darkest point in the scene. far less than what the human eye can perceive. so scene A is relatively easy, you can capture it with 3 such exposures, each a stop apart.

now, move your mind to scene B, a sunset scene, with rocks and a blazing sky with the sun there. do you think that scene B is made out of more blocks of light? that the brightest point here is much brighter than the brightest point in scene A? that the darkest point here is also darker than the darkest point in scene A? you will need more blocks of light here to make up the entire picture's bright-to-dark points.

i hope this explanation is sufficient.
 

it is simple.

think of a scene as a stack of blocks of light.

scene A is a daylight scene, let's just say it has 3 blocks of light. each time you click the shutter of the camera, you capture a block, because the camera's sensor has limited ability to capture the brightest point to darkest point in the scene. far less than what the human eye can perceive. so scene A is relatively easy, you can capture it with 3 such exposures, each a stop apart.

now, move your mind to scene B, a sunset scene, with rocks and a blazing sky with the sun there. do you think that scene B is made out of more blocks of light? that the brightest point here is much brighter than the brightest point in scene A? that the darkest point here is also darker than the darkest point in scene A? you will need more blocks of light here to make up the entire picture's bright-to-dark points.

i hope this explanation is sufficient.

Great Explanation! thanks for that...

Cheers,
 

Great Explanation! thanks for that...

Cheers,

glad to be of help.

now, for the correct number of exposures you should take for optimal hdr,

you can look at the histogram, the moment it starts bunching up to one side very obviously, you can stop taking the picture, and possibly discard the last picture which has the bunched up histogram.

shooting more scenes will help you gain a rough sense of just how wide the dynamic range (brightest to darkest point) of the scene is.
 

glad to be of help.

now, for the correct number of exposures you should take for optimal hdr,

you can look at the histogram, the moment it starts bunching up to one side very obviously, you can stop taking the picture, and possibly discard the last picture which has the bunched up histogram.

shooting more scenes will help you gain a rough sense of just how wide the dynamic range (brightest to darkest point) of the scene is.

Cool... I am travelling to Bali duing chinese new year, hoping to get lot of good opportunities to shoot HDR..

One more question... by any chance should we use Flash for HDR? (hope this is not too silly question...)
 

Cool... I am travelling to Bali duing chinese new year, hoping to get lot of good opportunities to shoot HDR..

One more question... by any chance should we use Flash for HDR? (hope this is not too silly question...)

probably not.

flash is usually used to overcome dynamic range limitations (in a way).. so you are using too many tools for overcoming one problem, that will probably not go well. :)
 

probably not.

flash is usually used to overcome dynamic range limitations (in a way).. so you are using too many tools for overcoming one problem, that will probably not go well. :)

Thanks !! for the Info.

Regards,
Sachin
 

Cool... I am travelling to Bali duing chinese new year, hoping to get lot of good opportunities to shoot HDR..

One more question... by any chance should we use Flash for HDR? (hope this is not too silly question...)

If you are doing landscape HDR shots, then flash is probably not required.

But there is something called flash HDR photography. If you need more info, read the book from Ferrell McCollough "Complete Guide to HDR Digital Photography." This is by far one of the best I have read on HDR photography and will help answer your first question on the number of exposures required.

Have fun in Bali. I went there last year and took lots of great photos, some of which are in my Flickr. Lot's of great HDR opportunities. Cheers!
 

Hi,

from your experience which exposure setting is best for HDR

EV 0,+2,-2

OR

EV 0,+1,-1

Thanks,

A simple, layman and kiasu way, meter the brightest and darkest part of your image where the details you want can be seen to your satisfaction. Than bracket all the inbetween :sweat:
 

Hi,

from your experience which exposure setting is best for HDR

EV 0,+2,-2

OR

EV 0,+1,-1

Thanks,

No hard , fast rules. Much depending on the amount of highlights and shadows in the scene.
 

If you are doing landscape HDR shots, then flash is probably not required.

But there is something called flash HDR photography. If you need more info, read the book from Ferrell McCollough "Complete Guide to HDR Digital Photography." This is by far one of the best I have read on HDR photography and will help answer your first question on the number of exposures required.

Have fun in Bali. I went there last year and took lots of great photos, some of which are in my Flickr. Lot's of great HDR opportunities. Cheers!

your BALI collection is amazing, most of them are HDR? which camera and lens you used?
 

if it better to have 3 shots? or 5 or more? the more the better?
 

A simple, layman and kiasu way, meter the brightest and darkest part of your image where the details you want can be seen to your satisfaction. Than bracket all the inbetween :sweat:

this suggestion, "very best"... :thumbsup:
 

If you're kiasu and don't know how to meter the scene for the total needed dynamic range, can just take a wide range, e.g. 11 shots of -5,-4,-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3,4,5. You can then discard the unwanted ones later by checking the histogram in PS.

And remember to use aperture priority and manual focus, with a tripod if necessary if the shutter speed drops too low.
 

Last edited:
If you're kiasu and don't know how to meter the scene for the total needed dynamic range, can just take a wide range, e.g. 11 shots of -5,-4,-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3,4,5. You can then discard the unwanted ones later by checking the histogram in PS.

And remember to use aperture priority and manual focus, with a tripod if necessary if the shutter speed drops too low.


Thanks, I will try this...Great suggestions from everyone... BTW what is Kiasu?

Regards,
Sachin
 

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