We have seen the basic technique for taking bracketed exposures inside a room with bright views out of the windows.
The advanced technique detailed below allows you to capture all the exposures needed for the scene and therefore render it more accurately.
Advanced technique for taking bracketed exposures
1.
Turn on all the lights in the room.
2.
Check that the flash of your camera is switched off.
3.
Set your camera to Aperture priority mode (usually abbreviated A or Av).
4.
Switch your camera to spot metering mode. Position the focus point over the darkest part of the scene and read the shutter speed.
5.
Position the focus point over the
brightest part of the scene (avoiding sun reflections and bare light bulbs) and read the shutter speed.
Note: If bright light is entering the camera, cover the viewfinder with your hand to ensure your reading is correct.
6.
Open the
HDR Exposure Calculator and enter the shutter speeds you measured in Steps 3 and 4.
7.
Switch the camera to Manual mode.
8.
Set the Shutter Speed determined by the HDR Exposure Calculator for the first bracketed set.
9.
Set your camera to Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) mode.
10.
Using the AEB options, set the EV spacing to +/-
2 EV if your camera supports it, or otherwise to the highest EV spacing it supports.
If you are not familiar with the AEB functionality of your camera, consult your camera's manual or this webpage.
11.
Switch your camera to Continuous Shooting mode.
12.
Press the shutter button to take the first set of bracketed photos.
13.
Take the other photos or bracketed photos determined by the HDR Exposure Calculator, if any.
If you need to take more than one bracketed set, use a tripod to take the photos.
You can now load the bracketed photos into Photomatix.