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shutterman

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OK, picture this in your head, you have just got done hiking the best trail of your life when you reach the summit of this mountain top to find a beautiful valley below, something that you decide to capture with your camera. However, there is somewhat of a problem here, the scene is hard to capture good detail in because it is near nightfall and all you have is your camera, a tripod, and a polarizer. You have two extreme differences in light here, one part real bright and the other real dark. So, thinking to oneself the best way to capture this scene would be to take multiple exposures of the scene and blend them later, correct? Ok, so let's suppose you decide to do this, but the question is, "What is the best way to do this?" I mean if you set your camera up on a tripod and point the camera to the sky to get a reading for the sky then point back at your scene then you are metering for the sky. If you then do that for shadow detail and move the camera to get a reading for the darker areas of the scene then you would have a meter for that area to be able to get the shot exposed correctly for that. However, when you keep moving the camera around how do you know that you are getting it back in the exact same spot that you were in when you took your first photo? I mean how do you do this?

I guess there are a few possibilities. One that comes to mind is to do exposure bracketing which works well but what if the scene is beyond the limits of the exposure bracketing to do? I mean we would be talking extreme differences here but I guess it is possible. The other method would be to take a reading of the sky and write it down, then take a reading of the darkest part of the scene and write it down to give you something to go by, then you set up your camera and plug in your values to get two different exposures of the same shot. Maybe I am making this too complicated. Anyways how do you guys do it?
 
If the dynamic range of the subject is beyond normal bracketing limits then use manual control for multiple exposures. First take a meter reading through the camera and use this as a basis for the manual bracketing sequence. Set manual on camera then choose an aperture in the middle of the range and vary the exposure to give the number of shots you want using different shutter speeds.

Cheers

KC
--
http://www.pbase.com/photonouveau
 
I'd do the same. Frame the scene on the tripod and lock it down. Using Av mode I'd set the aperture to something like F7.1 (or another aperture you prefer) for landscapes. Take a shot and note the shutter speed reading. From then I'd switch to M mode again set the aperture to F7.1 (or whichever one you chose). Using the shutter speed reading in Av mode as a starting point, you can now increase or decrease the shutter speed to take shots of bright sky and dark shadows respectively. It'll be mainly trial and error in getting the right shutter speed for the bright, midtone and dark areas, so take lots of shots.
 
shutterman said:
Anyways how do you guys do it?
Click to expand...
Put the camera on the tripod and compose your scene. I would use aperture priority. Select ISO 100 for lowest noise. Set your aperture for a landscape, f/8 or f/11, or f/16. With my 10-22 ultra wide, I would select f/11 and that would be enough depth of field.

I would use RAW, but you could also shoot JPG.

Take a shot. Review shot and histogram. Blown highlights? Use negetive exposure compensation and reshoot until your highlights are bright but not blown out. If you exceed -2 exposure compensation, then you are going to have to flip to Manual camera mode so you can get access to more negetive compensation, but that is very unlikely.

Satisfied with the shot exposed for the highlights? Now set 0 or so exposure compensation and expose for the dark forground. Same trick, review shot and histogram. Adjust with positive exposure compensation until you are satisfied. In this shot exposed for the dark forground, don't worry about the blown highlights because you are going to replace those with the shot exposed for the highlights.

All this talk is way more complicated than it really is. Camera on tripod, RAW, -1.5 exposure compensation for the highlights shot. +1 exposure compensation for the forground shot. Fine tune the exposure in the RAW post process and blend.

Done.

How many times have I done this? Let me count... In truth not all of these were from two exposures. Some are two developes from the same RAW file.











--
CityLights
http://www.pbase.com/citylights
.
 
Braketing on a T1i covers four stops, and you can set it for four stops under to camera choice, or set it for two stops under and two stops over, or any combo in between.

Set the camera on Aperture Priority -- the reason for this is that the aperture will stay the same as you braket, so depth of field is the same on all three exposures.

Set the camera on bracketing. Decide how many stops range you want, up to four stops. And decide if you wants the camera's own metering to be the mid-point, the darkest or the lightest.

Put the camera on the tripod.

Focus and frame.

Take the pictures.

Now you'll have three frames, frames identically, with up to a four stop range from darkest to lightest.

Put into some software, and use the magic of digital manipulation.

Or take a meter reading of a mid tone, with the camera set on manual.

Put the camera on the tripod

Set the camera at the setting indicated by the meter reading of the mid tone.

Take a photgraph.

Turn the shutter speed wheel to three "real" speeds faster (not the little 1/3 adjustments) and take a shot. Set the shutter speed three real speeds slower, and take a picture.

Now you've got six f stops of difference, and any print you make will look really fake, but there will be peace in the valley and on the last sunny mountain top peak, too.

BAK
 
Your shots are amazing all the time. That first shot is incredible. Because I know I can never get both sky and forground together. lol, your the best.
--
Quickly shooter, draw your lens or prepared to get shot.
 
Great job Citylights!
I'd use the same photo technique as you but what about the post-processing?
Is it simple fusion or HDR-processing?
Photomatix or PSE (using layers) or something else?
Please advise!
 
Luke_skyshooter said:
Great job Citylights!
Click to expand...
Thanks,
Luke_skyshooter said:
I'd use the same photo technique as you but what about the post-processing?
Is it simple fusion or HDR-processing?
Photomatix or PSE (using layers) or something else?
Click to expand...
I use Photoshop Elements and simple blending of exposures using layers. I will admit it takes a little skill to make it look good. The trick is in the feathering from light to dark. Here is a tutorial I wrote a while back:

http://www.pbase.com/citylights/tutorial__blending

--
CityLights
http://www.pbase.com/citylights
.
 
Rakumi said:
Your shots are amazing all the time. That first shot is incredible. Because I know I can never get both sky and forground together. lol, your the best.
Click to expand...
Thanks, but it is practice and time! Those pictures span some of my best shots from the last 5 years. They also happen to be some that I did forground/background blending on so they fit for the example.

I shoot lots. Only the best 1% of what I shoot gets posted online. Lets just forget about the other 99% of the shots that didn't make the cut. ;)

--
CityLights
http://www.pbase.com/citylights
.
 
While most cover the bracketing of 3 shots I've done some some 6 exposure shots.
  1. Set camera to M mode, set iso to 100, set aperture anyway you want.
  2. I first expose for the brightest part in the scene, that's the 'control' shot, it will keep all highlights without blowing them out, no blinkies. To do this in M mode, switch to spot metering or partial, point the camera at the brightest part in the scene, adjust exposure/shutter so that it read +1 2/3 t +2 on the lightmeter meter (the needle that you adjust in Av mode becomes a meter in M mode).
  3. Knowing that when bracketing, I get the normal shot, one under exposed and one over exposed 0,-2, +2 for example. My normal shot is keeping the highlights, so underexposing is not what you want because it doesn't add anything.
  4. So overexpose by the amount you set the bracketing by adjusting shutter speed for example +2 stops (longer shutter speed). This will give you one overexposed shot, a normal shot, and one overexposed +2. (+2, 0, +4)
  5. Now comes the tricky part, now that you have 3 shots (+2, 0, +4) You have to overexpose some more for the really dark parts. By adjusting shutter speed overexpose another 6 stops. That's 18 clicks with the wheel. This will create +8, +6, +10 stops of overexposure. Now you have 0, +2, +4, +6, +8 and +10 exposures.
Caveats:
  • Take care when adjusting the shutter 18 clicks, it may through off the angle slightly if your tripos isn't sturdy. Some software may be able to realign the shots
  • This puts a heavy strain on the lens, CA will be amplified a lot and flare etc may also be much more visible.
  • Saturation may shoot through the roof, so try rebalance it. I mean the balance between black and white contrast and color contrast.
  • There must be nothing moving. Anything that moves will create ghosting. With this technique even moving clouds may create awful results.
  • Don't choose your shutterspeed too slow. You end up quickly in the seconds region. If you start out with 1/200, 10 stops overexposed the shutter speed will be 8 seconds. If you choose to slow a shutter speed it will go beyond the 30 seconds which can only be done using bulb exposure.
  • This kind of dynamic range is typical if you want to see detail in the sky through a window in a dark building and the closet that's ajar you want the content to be visible as well. If there's a black cat in there and you want to see the fur as well add a couple more stops ;)
Here are a few examples. Not great shots, I know :)

6 shots, 2.5 seconds to 1/200 resulting in 9 stops



Here are the darkest and brightest shots:





1/2 second to 1/320 (you calculate the stops involved :) )


shutterman said:
OK, picture this in your head, you have just got done hiking the best trail of your life when you reach the summit of this mountain top to find a beautiful valley below, something that you decide to capture with your camera. However, there is somewhat of a problem here, the scene is hard to capture good detail in because it is near nightfall and all you have is your camera, a tripod, and a polarizer. You have two extreme differences in light here, one part real bright and the other real dark. So, thinking to oneself the best way to capture this scene would be to take multiple exposures of the scene and blend them later, correct? Ok, so let's suppose you decide to do this, but the question is, "What is the best way to do this?" I mean if you set your camera up on a tripod and point the camera to the sky to get a reading for the sky then point back at your scene then you are metering for the sky. If you then do that for shadow detail and move the camera to get a reading for the darker areas of the scene then you would have a meter for that area to be able to get the shot exposed correctly for that. However, when you keep moving the camera around how do you know that you are getting it back in the exact same spot that you were in when you took your first photo? I mean how do you do this?

I guess there are a few possibilities. One that comes to mind is to do exposure bracketing which works well but what if the scene is beyond the limits of the exposure bracketing to do? I mean we would be talking extreme differences here but I guess it is possible. The other method would be to take a reading of the sky and write it down, then take a reading of the darkest part of the scene and write it down to give you something to go by, then you set up your camera and plug in your values to get two different exposures of the same shot. Maybe I am making this too complicated. Anyways how do you guys do it?
Click to expand...
--
Kind regards
Imqqmi



http://www.pbase.com/imqqmi
 
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