Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

Because I forgot to change the settings to single shot!

CliffMcKenzie Loc: Lake Athens Texas

Burst mode always for everything (just about).

No one up to this point has mentioned back button focusing. My Nikon is set to low burst (CL 7 fps) always and has two different back button focusing controls. Bracketing means a near instant 3 or 5 shots. If shooting single, then it shoots single. If a coyote or bird takes off...thumb moves SW 1cm and hold down for target lock and burst.

If you want single, push down once. If you want burst, hold down.

Hip Coyote

The LA Times used to put out a yearly book of its photographers’ best photos titled, “Just One More Shot.” Their photogs were great back in the day. I took that saying to heart when I’m doing “serious photography.”

I once saw an exhibition of Pulitzer winning photographs but it also included the film strips of the images taken before and after the award winning shot. The one that stands out in my memory was then one of the Naked Vietnamese Girl running from a napalm attack. There were pics before and after but THE shot isolated her in all her misery in such a way that the others did not.

Not a landscape matter, certainly. But in our digital age there really is no reason not to take more rather than less photos.

SalvageDiver Loc: Huntington Beach CA

I’m with RG on this subject. When I’m taking pictures that are important to me and/or would be very difficult or impossible to retake, such as while hiking or traveling, I always set my camera up for a burst of 3 or 5 exposure bracketed exposures. I’ll do this for every shot.

It’s real easy to do and provides a huge safety net for getting all the details of a scene in a single group of images. During review, I’ll check the middle exposure to see if it has all the correct exposures. If so, the under/over exposed images can be discarded. If not, the additional exposures save the day. I find it’s always better to have too much information than not enough. After all, a digital image is cheap..cheap..cheap.

There are two types of clipping that occurs when the camera’s DR is exceeded. The first, which is obvious, is when all three colors channels are clipped. This creates just a single white or black blob with no information or details in it. The second, which is not nearly as obvious, is when only one or two color channels are clipped. You’re losing some detail but not all. This results in unwanted color shifts and muted detail. If you’re looking at a luminosity histogram, this won’t be evident at the time of shooting. A histogram showing the 3 color channels would, though. In almost all cases exposure bracketing eliminates these problems.

If you don’t need the under/over exposed images, then end of discussion. However, if that middle exposure has clipped highlights or blocked up shadows, then the other exposures provide the additional info to complete your image. There are different ways of processing multiple images. First, would be tone mapping/compression using a HDR processing program, such as Photomatix or Aurora. However, if you overdo it, you’re left with the garish images that HDR developed a bad reputation for. But better methods involve exposure blending where you take just portions of the under/over exposed images and blend into your primary image, usually the middle exposure. This is very common in RE and architectural photography. Tools for this include ‘luminosity masks’ and the ‘blendif’ tool in PS.

Some might argue that bracketing is problematic when motion is present, such a people walking or trees moving during a breezy day. Tools and techniques abound that solve those problems. Movement is not, generally, a limitation, unless to an extreme.

And then there's a whole discussion that could be had about multiple images for increasing image resolution (dithering) or noise reduction (averaging) in poor lighting situations.

YMMV, but I burst a series of exposure bracketed images as a regular part of my photography.

photoman43

I will add to my previous post why I use burst shooting for everything.

I started this back in my slide film days when a Nikon and a Canon Pro both told me that a short burst of three images even on a tripod was their preferred method as mirror slap may cause lack of max sharpness and minor exposure and color stuff could be slightly different for each of the three images. Now that I have a mirrorless camera, the mirror slap has disappeared, but not the exposure and color stuff.

When I do landscapes on a tripod with my Z9 mirrorless, I still do a short burst. Do I see a difference in each shot? Usually No. But when I do people, even portraits, I do see a difference usually caused by slight changes in the look of the eye or eye lid position. The burst may yield one good one without requiring you to ask the person to pose all over again. Most people do not like to do this.

Like most things, the correct answer is "it all depends...."

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I had an electronics Prof. in college that gave that as a response to many questions.
Drove everyone nuts until they figured how to ask more detailed and succinct questions......

User ID

Some cameras will do that internally. One of my 20MP cameras does it, and the result is 50MP and less noise. The burst is fixed at 16 frames. This is NOT sensor shifting. It really layers 16 individual handheld frames from a single burst. Obviously, not all the data from every frame can wind up in the end result !

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

Since that results in an exposure that is 16x as long, why not just drop the ISO 4 stops and lower the shutter speed? You get a 4 stop reduction in noise and no alignment problem.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Triggered by Photoman's post above...

This is interesting to me. I have been racking my brain to figure out where the term "mirror slap" came from. Sensors in non-image-stabilized cameras are rigidly mounted to the camera frame, and movement of a 10 gram mirror is just not going to move an entire 700-900 gram camera body in any detectable manner. So any perceived effect effect of a mirror in a DSLR is just a figment of the imagination. Film cameras, on the other hand, contained a pressure plate that was generally spring-mounted to the back door of the camera. Any slack in the film or the back door latch could rarely lead to air currents created by the fast movement of the shutter could cause the film to move. Any movement caused by the mirror should occur behind a closed shutter and should not be an issue.

Mirror slap is a fabricated excuse for poor technique. It is not real for DSLRs.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Aside from the mirror being cushioned, "the mirror has motion and abruptly stops, therefore slap exists,
therefore vibration exists", regardless if there is any real <noticeable> effect. Physics says it exists.
I have never worried about it.
But I'm pretty sure some pixel peepers can show it as a problem.

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

This is very true! I did this on a fast moving train and captured a shot during the burst that was surreal. It was an unplanned composition of a wrecked "ghost" ship on a beautiful spotless beach. I never saw the boat coming as we were passing the beach in a tree grove and the trees opened for half a second as we whizzed by and the shot was captured in the frames. This shot is OOC no photoshop etc.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

It has always been real for SLRs and DSLRs. The louder it is the more likely the risk to the image.

It’s slightly different on a tripod than when hand held. Your hands may absorb some of the shock but on a tripod it’s a good reason to lock up the mirror before releasing the shutter.

dsnoke Loc: North Georgia, USA

I shoot everything in burst mode. I just never change that setting. One less thing to think about. :) Depending on the shutter speed and how gentle I am on the button, I get from 2 to 7 images each time I press the shutter. I find it easy to pass over the duplicate images when I'm culling images. Maybe that's just one of my idiosyncrasies.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I'm way more concerned about closing my eyepiece shutter and blocking stray light (which can be demonstrated by metering with the lens cap on) than about any imagined movement that might take place when the shutter is closed.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

Another good reason to move to mirrorless. Solves both issues.