hi all,

another question which I hope will help not only myself but others in the forum.

What is bracketing? i understand that it is being able to take shots under, properly exposed and over and layering it in post. (is this right?)

in my d200 and d70, there is a button for bkt. ive read the manual but for the life of me, i cant seem to figure it out.

any help will surely be appreciated.

thanks in advance.

as i understand it, bracketing is a series of shots taken at predetermined EV steps. normally, it's a series of 3 shots. on a d70 you can set the number of shots and the EV steps. i normally use 3 shots at around .3 or .7 stop difference. sometimes more if the scene's lighting is very tricky.

say you set it at .7 EV, the first shutter release will expose at 0EV, the next release will be -.7EV and the third will be at +.7 EV. you can use these 3 files to to create an image with "more dynamic range" in post through a virety of techniques. you can also use bracketing if you want to "play safe" to ensure that you'll have at least 1 well exposed image of a scene.

HTH.

If you shoot in RAW, will bracketing still be hellpful? If not then shoot RAW for important scenes then.

thanks miguel. this would probably work only for landscapes where there is not much movement? but for people shots, like today, i was in the beach, with a very bright sun reflecting on the sea, i was shooting people, and people move. so layering would be difficult.

any thoughts?

thanks a bunch

bracketing can also be used with WB and FLASH settings :D and in WB bracketing ( at least for the D70s and E-1) you only take 1 shot and you get 3 results so it could be alright with subjects in motion -- then again, i don't know if layering with diff WB useful :D sir nick?

If you shoot in RAW, will bracketing still be hellpful? If not then shoot RAW for important scenes then.

in my experience yes, bracketing is still helpful even with raw since there isn't much you can do if you've blown your highlights (ex. bright sky). even with raw, there won't be much detail that can be recovered.

you're welcome paul. generally, yes, it would work best for landscapes if you're looking to work with layers to bring our detail in your highlights and shadows. of course, it would also work with people if you can get them to hold a pose ;). with some meticulous selection in PS, you may get away with "merging" several shots of moving objects (people, branches blowing in the wind). then there's the other purpose of bracketing which is to ensure you have a selection of shots of a scene or instance at various exposures.

thanks miguel. this would probably work only for landscapes where there is not much movement? but for people shots, like today, i was in the beach, with a very bright sun reflecting on the sea, i was shooting people, and people move. so layering would be difficult.

any thoughts?

thanks a bunch

thanks again for the confirmation miguel. off to the tests...