He to HDR

Hello I am hoping to take some pics of my friend's ancient camper van this weekend weather permitting, and I would like to try HDR on my D5100. To do this I know I will have 3 images taken on my camera by the HDR setting. Do i have to be in manual or can I stay in aperture? Also when I tried it before I could only see 1 image in the playback menu. Is this correct?. I just want to try things out at home before going obviously and Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance

Also just a thought - do I have to shoot in raw to get the 3 images or is JPEG ok?

If you do In-camera HDR, you can't shoot RAW. If you want out of camera HDR, your going to want to shoot RAW. In camera HDR does 3 pictures and puts them into 1. 1 under, 1 correct, 1 over exposed. In camera uses JPEG to make it's own. Out of camera uses RAW and HDR software. I use photoshop for mine, and usually take around 5-7 images. Best option, is try both, see what works for ya.

Excuse my thickness but if I use the HDR in camera and play back the image, will I see three images or one which a combination of the three?

Mfrankfort said:

If you do In-camera HDR, you can't shoot RAW. If you want out of camera HDR, your going to want to shoot RAW. In camera HDR does 3 pictures and puts them into 1. 1 under, 1 correct, 1 over exposed. In camera uses JPEG to make it's own. Out of camera uses RAW and HDR software. I use photoshop for mine, and usually take around 5-7 images. Best option, is try both, see what works for ya.

Click to expand...

The D5100 only does two photos in the HDR mode if I remember correctly. Also you will only see 1 image and you have no control over it. You really will need to shoot with a tripod and shoot at least three different shots and then combine them in software to get true HDR

That's what I do. I usually do 5 if the situation allows it. Sometimes with trees and such it's a bit hard. And if the 5100 doesn't, get a tripod and set the image to RAW. If you stay in M mode, you can adjust the exposure by changing the shutter speed from slow to fast.