Using AE bracketing to reduce noise and improve image detail

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

andrerav wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

[...] It’s been my experience though, that motion/alignment artifact problems tend to outweigh any noise reduction benefit you might get from stacking multiple images of a scene like this.

Absolutely, a tripod and a static motive is basically prerequisite for a successful result with this technique, so it definitely has its limitations.

It’s been my experience that a truly static landscape is a rare thing indeed.

So true! If I may digress, here's a recent example where I got caught out by a brewing thunderstorm while fishing: https://www.flickr.com/photos/70091899@N06/52261853574/

I knew I would have to use bracketing to capture the entire dynamic range, so I went big with -2, 0 and +2. If you study the middle-right of the photo, you can see some artifacts in the treetops. I'm not sure if it's due to a shaking camera or shaking trees (or sub-optimal anchor points in Hugin). But overall the end result came out okay, despite the liveliness of the scene and the fact that my tripod was standing on soft moss:P

Here's another example where I just wanted to layer the massive movements in the ocean water: https://www.flickr.com/photos/70091899@N06/51838549896/

In this photo I used a low amount of bracketing, I think it was along the lines of -1/3, o +1/3 or something like that. Regardless, the blending process brought out some interesting structures in the water.

Anyway, these are completely different uses cases for bracketing than what I described in my original post, but they are examples of how bracketing can be used in scenes with lots and lots of movement and still turn out interesting results. Tripod still required though:P