D300 and Multiple Exposure

[gossamer]

Hi,
I have a D300 and would like to experiment with multiple exposure and HDR while I'm visiting the scenery in upstate New York.

I've read the manual on Multiple Exposure, and tested it a bit. I was expecting to hear the shutter multiple times based on the number of pictures I've programmed into the option. Is this not the case?

Is the Multiple Exposure option basically just built-in HDR?

Any tips for someone going to visit some waterfalls to take pics of the family using multiple exposure/HDR?

 

[KmH]

Using the Shooting Menu's Multiple Exposure you press the shutter release the number of times you set in the Shooting Menu.
You set 2 to 10 as the number of exposures and you press the shutter release the same number of times you set the feature to.
The camera will combine the 2 to 10 images into a single image.
If you turn Auto Gain on the camera will adjust each exposure for you so the final image is exposed according to the exposure values set on the camera.
Auto Gain assumes each exposure will be made using the same exposure values.
If you have set the number of multiple frames to 2, each shutter release will have an exposure 1/2 as bright as the exposure settings values on the camera so the final image is exposed according to the exposure settings on the camera. If you have set the number of multiple frames to 8, each shutter release will have an exposure 1/8 as bright as the exposure settings values on the camera so the final image is exposed according to the exposure settings on the camera.

If you don't turn Auto Gain on, each shutter release will will be combined using the full value of the exposure settings.
If you have set the number of multiple frames to 2, each shutter release will be an exposure as bright as the exposure settings values on the camera so the final image is both exposures added together. If the exposure settings were not changed the final image would have 2x the exposure.

HDR photographs are made by combining a series of photos that have different exposure values.
How different the exposure settings need to be and how many exposures you need is determined by the dynamic range of the scene you want to image.

To make a series of exposures for an HDR you would use the D300's Custom Setting Menu's Auto Bracketing feature and Bracket Ordering feature.
The best HDR images are combined using software outside the camera, like hdrSoft's Photomatix.

 

[gossamer]

Very helpful. Thanks so much for spending the time to help.