Photographix
For Photographers of All Skill levels since 2005
Question About Bracketing
Is there an advantage to bracketing when shooting in RAW format? With the ability to change exposure, white balance, etc, I'm starting to wonder if I need to take multiple pictures of everything, since there is usually only one picture out of three that I use. When I recently reinstalled my pictures onto my computer I discovered I have over 5,000 pictures, two out of three of them that are over or under exposed and just taking up hard drive space.
Thanks!
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Kim McDaniel on -
I find it helpful to further my learning of proper exposure in the camera. Sure, you can fix it after and cut down on post-processing by shooting fewer frames, but you can also cut down on post-processing by learning how to edit in the camera.
-
Permalink Reply by Colin Foyle on -
Keith,
I am no expert, but I only Bracket when I plan to make the picture an HDR. I also use RAW almost 100% of the time (I don't for sports as I need the speed JPG can give me). With RAW we have I believe a +/- 1 stop capability in the RAW file to correct exposure, so I don't shoot Bracketed except for HDR when I want +/- 2 stops on the three pictures, to be combined. Don't know if this helps or not. Just my point of view I guess.
-
Permalink Reply by Keith T. Jenson on -
Colin,
Thanks for sharing your expertise! It does help. I hadn't even heard of HDR when I posted this back in November. I've learned enough in the last couple months that I think I will turn off bracketing and manually adjust up or down as needed and not shoot so many unneeded pictures.
Back to HDR, I haven't had time to research it much, is there a (relatively) inexpensive program, or plugin for Photoshop Elements or Lightroom that enables someone to do HDR pictures?
-
Permalink Reply by Colin Foyle on
-
Keith,
Yes, Make sure you are signed into Photographix, and go to the Member Section (here's the direct link: Member Section). Scroll down and you should see Photomatix, we get a discount as members, I think 20%. Plus it can install as a plug-in to Lightroom.
I use it often. Very easy to use, and has many sliders to manipulate the impage.
The club had an HDR overview session a couple of months back, I guess you missed it. It was very informative.
If you are able to come along to the club event on Wednesday 1st Feb, I can show you Photomatix looks like used through Lightroom. Let me know if you can make it, so I know to bring the laptop.
-
Permalink Reply by Keith T. Jenson on
-
Thanks again! I just added the Feb 1st class to my phone, but haven't RSVP'd yet. That would be great if you you could show me what it looks like! I'm slowly "moving" photography up higher on my priority list. I've just got to get through the next seven months to finish some educational pursuits, and I will have a lot more time on my hands. I look forward to seeing there on the 1st of Feb!
Keith
-
Permalink Reply by Mike Christensen -
Keith, Im in the same boat, Since I do more HDR than anything My whole life revolves around brackets, I have the tendancy to use the 5 photo bracket that my Camera has so instead of the 3 you are talking about i get 1 out of 5 that is what I like. I have found that just taking three seperate photos "adjusted to what I want" works better for me and the HDR looks better becausue I was able to adjust my setting before I took any photos, the only downfall that I see is that if I am taking lets say 5 photos of something that has sky in it I have to be quick about it or I get that skipping sky look that I so dearly hate. Someday I'm going to go through the tens of thousands of photos that I have and start deleting them. I have been trying to take most my photos in RAW format and then break them up in Elements and then transferring them to Photomatix for HDR processing, Saves on computor space
FREE camera club dedicated to helping photographers learn, grow, and network. Every member has their own page. Many local and web activities
© 2012 Created by Simspix.
