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HDR Question - Length Between Exposures?
- Thread starter Teamfour
- Start date
As mentioned, clouds and wind (tree movement) are issues. Also you have to make sure the camera did not move at all. I usually shoot in High continuous mode to get them as soon as possible. You will have a delay bracketing manually with the D3100 which is why I moved into a D5100 at the time.
As mentioned, clouds and wind (tree movement) are issues. Also you have to make sure the camera did not move at all. I usually shoot in High continuous mode to get them as soon as possible. You will have a delay bracketing manually with the D3100 which is why I moved into a D5100 at the time.
I will be using an intervalometer so I can program the sequence of shots with varying exposure times on my D3100. On second thought, I need to see if my intervalometer will allow fractional exposure times.
I'm trying to figure out WHY you would want to wait "minutes or even hours apart"?
I want to shoot a sunset that will cause the facing side of the mountains to be very dark. I was afraid that exposures close together would not give me detail in the dark areas. My thought was to shoot the facing mountain side an hour or so before sunset to get the proper exposure. Not sure this makes sense.
My thought was to shoot the facing mountain side an hour or so before sunset to get the proper exposure. Not sure this makes sense.
That's the whole point of bracketing exposures.
In one exposure you will get the shadow detail, in another you will get highlight detail, and so on. If you're experimenting then shoot at least 5 exposures varying 1 stop each. use a tripod and do not move the camera at all. Use your exposure compensation button on your d3100 to change exposures by 1 stop. Start with 0, then go -1 -2 then +1 and +2.
Then take a look at your imageson youyr computer and see which ones would be best to combine for an HDR image.
Sometimes you need all 5, and sometimes 3 is enough.
Use a strong de-ghosting methond in what ever software you will be using.
Also, this is very important. Do not change any other settings between shots except exposure compensation. Also use the same focus point for each shot.
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I know most HDR is taken with 3, 5, or 7 exposures and then combined in a software program. Can the separate exposures be taken minutes or even hours apart?
No - HDR is not time-lapse photography. HDR - High Dynamic Range is a way to INCREASE the exposure dynamic range of your camera for that one image. Most digital camera are capable of capturing about 12 EV (exposure value) range per image. In a situation where 12 ev range is not enough like the scene consists of brights that too bright and darks that too dark for that range, ie the sky will be over exposed and the rock shadows will be under, HDR lets you get the proper exposure for all those areas. So, you take one 1 stop over, one just right and one 1 stop under for a 3 image HDR. The 1-stop over will properly expose the rock shadow, the one stop under will properly expose the sky and the 0-stop is for everything else. (Sometime you need to do 5 or even 7 exposure to get everything exposed right.) So, we are talking about ONE picture - you need to do the images as close in time as possible with each other as possible so things don't change between the images. If you wait a few minutes between shots, say with the sky, the sun or clouds would have changed position and so when you combine the images, you'll get multiple suns and clouds will look like a bad fake photoshopped job!
So, it's not time-lapse photography. The answer is the images have to be as immediate as possible. In my D7100, I set my CL continuous shutter to do 3 shot so when set to bracket shooting, I press the shutter once and all 3 HDR images are shot.
Hope this help.
Yau-Man
most of the time i use just three shots one under one normal and one over and i find that is plenty , although in a very high dynamic scene you may need a lot more but as a rule i fire three on high continuous and if your shooting raw there is plenty of detail to get what you want
In a sunset shot I would use the full range +-5EV. Normally you will need 3 shots at -5, 0 and +5, but to make life easier for the program an extra at +-2 can be added.
There are various ways to determine the range, but I find that getting the brightest is the easiest. Here is what I do
. Use spot meter and find the exposure values for the sun. That is the brightest.
. Use spot meter to find exposure for deep shadows. That is the darkest.
. Now set the camera so that it exposes in between the brightest and the darkest.
. Change the exposure compensation using the wheel. It normally changes 1/3EV at a time, so take the normal shot, rotate the wheel to -5 shoot and then change to -2, +2 and +5
There are various ways to determine the range, but I find that getting the brightest is the easiest. Here is what I do
. Use spot meter and find the exposure values for the sun. That is the brightest.
. Use spot meter to find exposure for deep shadows. That is the darkest.
. Now set the camera so that it exposes in between the brightest and the darkest.
. Change the exposure compensation using the wheel. It normally changes 1/3EV at a time, so take the normal shot, rotate the wheel to -5 shoot and then change to -2, +2 and +5