Auto Exposure Bracketing for HDR: I did some Auto Exposure Bracketing to process for HDR. I set my exposure range from -2.75 to +2.75 using 5 exposures. My question is this range...

skingfong Loc: Sacramento

I did some Auto Exposure Bracketing to process for HDR. I set my exposure range from -2.75 to +2.75 using 5 exposures. My question is this range overkill or not enough? I was thinking it's better to have more range than not enough.

The first shot is at 0 EV. The second shot is all 5 shots of the exposure bracket merged together.

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jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

skingfong wrote:

I did some Auto Exposure Bracketing to process for HDR. I set my exposure range from -2.75 to +2.75 using 5 exposures. My question is this range overkill or not enough? I was thinking it's better to have more range than not enough.

The first shot is at 0 EV. The second shot is all 5 shots of the exposure bracket merged together.

It's all good. I usually do just 3 at 2 stop apart. Works for me. To each his own. I've done 5 before too. But it does take longer and it takes more space on your card and hard drive. But it's all good. Your result seems to be very nice.

BudsOwl Loc: Upstate NY and New England

Stan, I usually use -3 to +3 if I use seven exposures and -2 to +2 if I use five exposures; for three exposures I use either -1 to +1 or -1.5 to +1.5. I like your final picture. Very striking.
Bud

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

For JPG captures from camera, five (5) exposures at 1-stop increments from -2 to +2 are fairly normal. For raw files, due to wider exposure latitude, just three exposures, -2, 0, +2 are usually sufficient.

I suggest that you subscribe the UHH section HDR Photography -- Before and After at http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-107-1.html to discuss with a few HDR experts.

CO

Photomatix recommends 3 exposures each 2 f-stops apart. For interior shots where there is extreme amounts of contrast they recommend 5 exposures. From what I have read it's best not to have too many exposures because there is a lot of overlapping in the exposures.

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

skingfong wrote:

.... My question is this range overkill or not enough? ....

I usually do jpg using just 3 shots at +1/norm/-1.
Seems to give a more natural looking image.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

skingfong wrote:

I did some Auto Exposure Bracketing to process for HDR. I set my exposure range from -2.75 to +2.75 using 5 exposures. My question is this range overkill or not enough? I was thinking it's better to have more range than not enough.

The first shot is at 0 EV. The second shot is all 5 shots of the exposure bracket merged together.

Your second image very nice. So far I have not liked my HDR images over a well exposed and processed normal one that I might do.

One thing you might look in to if you are not already doing so, is using for your HDR and/or Normal computer processing 16 bit or 32 bit files of over 8 bit. Cameras are usually 14 bit and converted via your importation program such as ACR. PSD and TIF files can be any of 8, 16, 32 bit. JPGs by definition are 8 bit. But 32 bit files can be HUGE! They contain a huge amount of information. Remember that is 32 bits per color channel!

ejrmaine Loc: South Carolina

I usually set the camera for +/- 1 stop and I've had good luck with that setting.

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

Very well done, was it a overkill, who knows. It would be interesting if you tried a couple setting of the same subject and posted them.

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

skingfong wrote:

I did some Auto Exposure Bracketing to process for HDR. I set my exposure range from -2.75 to +2.75 using 5 exposures. My question is this range overkill or not enough? I was thinking it's better to have more range than not enough.

The first shot is at 0 EV. The second shot is all 5 shots of the exposure bracket merged together.

The bracket range depends entirely on the dynamic range you need to capture. Rule of thumb is that the darkest exposure should have NO clipped highlights (except the sun in frame or extremely bright point sources of light) and the lightest should have your darkest tonal values as dark midtones. My record is +-7 EV in a completely dark abandoned pachinko parlor in the Fukushima exclusion zone with glass doors looking outside at the far end.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

One exposure for the shadows, one for the highlights, and if these values are more than three stops apart, I'll do a third exposure in between the two, roughly in the middle. As this covers the full range, any additional exposures is overkill and a waste of time.

Picdude Loc: Ohio

skingfong wrote:

I did some Auto Exposure Bracketing to process for HDR. I set my exposure range from -2.75 to +2.75 using 5 exposures. My question is this range overkill or not enough? I was thinking it's better to have more range than not enough.

The first shot is at 0 EV. The second shot is all 5 shots of the exposure bracket merged together.

Stan, your final HDR version came out quite well. Since storage is cheap, I always err on the side of taking more exposures than I may need than less.

In answer to your question though, without access to all five of your images it's hard to tell whether or not you had enough, too much or not enough range. On the other hand, you could do two more versions of the image yourself, using the middle three exposures to do one image, and the 0 EV and +/- 2.75 EV for the other, then compare the 3 results to determine which looks the best.

As was pointed out earlier in the thread, the actual amount of exposures needed to properly convert an HDR image is going to be dependent on the amount of contrast in the scene. Experience will be your best judge as you progress in HDR. For the scene you captured, 3 shots at 0, +/-2 EV may very well have captured the scene, but since you have 5 shots of data, it's well worth the time to process different ways to see what looks the best to you.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

I've done both 3 exposures, 2 stops apart, and 5 exposures, 1 stop apart. When I got my Canon 7D MII, it is equipped to take 5, and that's what I've been doing for a while. One thing I like about that is, if you don't like the HDR effect on a particular shot, you've also got a set of 1-stop bracketed exposures, and maybe one of them is more to your liking.

skingfong Loc: Sacramento

WF2B wrote:

Stan, I usually use -3 to +3 if I use seven exposures and -2 to +2 if I use five exposures; for three exposures I use either -1 to +1 or -1.5 to +1.5. I like your final picture. Very striking.
Bud

Thanks, Bud that makes sense.

skingfong Loc: Sacramento

kymarto wrote:

The bracket range depends entirely on the dynamic range you need to capture. Rule of thumb is that the darkest exposure should have NO clipped highlights (except the sun in frame or extremely bright point sources of light) and the lightest should have your darkest tonal values as dark midtones. My record is +-7 EV in a completely dark abandoned pachinko parlor in the Fukushima exclusion zone with glass doors looking outside at the far end.

Thanks. That sounds the answer I was looking for as far as the rule of thumb. It makes total sense.