HDR puzzle.

[rebeccajones]

Ok,

I thought I'd give the old HDR a go to see what sort of results I got, so I read up a few places mostly they say you need to take a selection of pictures with different exposure settings and then bung them into something like Photomatrix..

All well and good, but.... how do you take a pictures at a selection of exposures in one go?

I've got a Canon 400D, but unless I'm missing something theres no easy way to do that?

Am I thick or "what" ?

[liamail]

AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) will allow you to take three exposures at varying increments of EV. It's explained in the manual.

If you want more than 3 exposures, I find the easiest way is to do it manually having metered the scene and taken note of the aperture and shutter speed values. It may sound complicated but it's a very easy process.

[kerzo]

I am not sure if the 400D has the ability but the function is called bracketing - basically what happens (on my D50) is that you turn the bracketing option on and it will take an underexposed image when you press the shutter, take a normal exposure when you press it again then finally take an overexposed shot when you press the shutter for the third time. Obviously this is best done on a tripod so that you have the same area covered.

[rebeccajones]

liamail, thanks for that... hmmm

I don't suppose that anyone has a link to a PDF of the manual mine is somewhere "safe" and I've not sure where that would be.

[PaulDCocker]

It's on Menu 2 at the top, click on it and spread out those three green blocks so one is on -2 one in the middle on 0 then the last on 2... first it takes the correct exposure then the underexposed -2 then the over exposed +2 (you have to either keep your finger on the shutter button or take three separate shots, it helps if it's on a tripod when doing HDR)

Hope that helps.

Paul.

[emeyedeejay]

Google eh! :D

http://www.visibledust.com/manuals/Canon_DRXTi400D.pdf

[sideshowbob]

This (http://www.noendpress.com/pvachier/cameras/index.php) is usually a handy site for camera manuals ...

[basegreen]

Photomatix can do pseudo HDR from a single raw file... more subtle, and works very well indeed.

[wseed]

AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) If you want more than 3 exposures, I find the easiest way is to do it manually having metered the scene and taken note of the aperture and shutter speed values. It may sound complicated but it's a very easy process.

This is IMO the best way of getting the under exposed to over exposed shots you want.

In steps
Set your camera on a tripod and setup the shot as you would want to take it normally in AV mode.
Note the settings ie 1/125 F8 and turn your camera to M mode
Dial in the same Aperture (you want to keep the aperture constant so as not to change the DOF in the between the shots)
You then need to start with a shutter speed that will give you the desired range so maybe start at 2 stops underexposed which would be 1/500. Take the shot.
Now and using the dial on your camera you can change the shutter speed to whatever increments you desire so you could just take shots at each setting you get or you could just go for 5 shots 1 stop apart ie 1/500 - 1/250 - 1/125 - 1/60 - 1/30.


...I don't suppose that anyone has a link to a PDF of the manual mine is somewhere "safe" and I've not sure where that would be.

lol, I have too much of my gear in a safe place inc all my spare memory and the 2x converter I wanted for an air show a week or to back :-(

[pauls2]

Why not just take a single picture using raw format.

Then you can save three images which are varying exposure.

Why make it difficult by physically taking three pictures??

[basegreen]

Why not just take a single picture using raw format.

Then you can save three images which are varying exposure.

Why make it difficult by physically taking three pictures??

You get a much better result, normally.

[ajoh198]

Why not just take a single picture using raw format.

Then you can save three images which are varying exposure.

Why make it difficult by physically taking three pictures??

because you don't have the range, three bracketed shots allows for 2 further stops at either end of the range (dark/light).

[rebeccajones]

Thanks for the Advice guys, now I have to go find something to take a picture of :)

[basegreen]

Shots with sky in work well, esp buildings etc.

Do you have a Flickr photostream?