94 PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY
1
Composeto lockfocusandposition
Whenyou’vefoundyourcomposition,securethe
cameraon a tripod,makingsurethatit won’tbe
knockedor movedduringthesequence.Whilestillin autofocus
(AF)mode,focuson thesubject,thenswitchto manualfocus
(MF),so thatthecameradoesn’trefocusbetweenframes.2
Meterthedynamicrange
In aperture-prioritymode,setthedesiredf/number,and
thenswitchto spotmeteringmode.MovetheAF point
overthebrightestpartof thescene,andlookat theshutterspeed
(1/100sechere).Repeatforthedarkestpart(1/6sec),andcount
th e stopsneededto coverthetwo– 5 stopsin thiscase.4
Settheself-timerandshoot
Withtheshotsetup,switchto self-timermode,so you
cantriptheshutterandmoveawayfromthecamerato
avoidmovingit – vitalif you’reworkingat slowspeedsas the
brightestexposuresmaygetblurred.Inputthenumberof frames
if requiredandpresstheshutterbuttonto startthesequence.3
Set up the bracketing mode
Now you know the stops of light covering the scene,
you can activate bracketing. On some cameras, there’s
a button on the body, but on others you’ll need to find it in the
shooting menu. When active, input the same number of frames
as stops in the dynamic range, and set the increment to 1 stop.
Set up & shoot
the right way
Your HDR processing will only be as good as the
exposures you put into it, so everything needsto
st art out the right way in-camera. What you need
is a sequence of shots, each taken with a different
shutter speed, so that the entire range of lightin
the scene is recorded without loss of detail in the
highlights or shadows. In some cases, this might
require only a few shots; in others, many. If indoubt,
al ways shoot more than you need.
The camera’s bracketing mode will take careof
this for you, but the frames need to be consistently
composed and focused, too. Best practice is to shoot
from a tripod, especially if the bracketed sequence
extends to exposures slower than 1/125sec.Above Most of the time, it’s best to shoot bracketed sequences from a
tripod, as this will help the blending later, but it can be done handheld.TIP!
Theeasywayto
shoottheexposures is
withyourbracketing
mode,butyoucan
doit manually,
too.TIP!
If thebrightest
exposuresin the
sequencearetooslow,
justincreasetheISO
settingfora faster
shutter.