First time trying bracketing

1.
Sun kissed top by Mark Coull, on Flickr

2.
Dunnottar Castle sunset by Mark Coull, on Flickr

3.
Dunnottar Castle by Mark Coull, on Flickr

4.
Dunnottar Castle by Mark Coull, on Flickr

Thought I would give bracketing a try on the fading sunset last night. These hdrs are made up of 5 images, then I comp'd them in LR. I think I've re-created what my eyes saw. I am amazed at the extra details and colours available by doing this, but I'm also aware that you can overcook a hdr too. Would love to hear from people that have tried this before.

 

Nice job. They all retain a nice, natural look.
I do quite a bit of bracketing with landscape shots with the aim of getting a natural looking dynamic range. Sometimes I like cooked shots, too.
For merging, I've gravitated to choosing just two or maybe three exposures.
I usually take 4 or 5 exposures. Often merging one exposure for the sky with one exposure for the shadows is enough.
You can get different looks by merging, for example, two darker exposures with one really bright exposure.
As an example, in my recent "5 from a hike" set, shots 4 and 5 are hdr merges.

Nice set.

 

Thanks for taking the time to comment, I'll give merging a different number of images a try to see if I get different looks. I really liked shot 5 of yours (5 from a hike thread), thought it looked really natural and it didn't occur to me that it was a hdr merge.

 

If done right, HDR should be indistinguishable from a straight shot but without the dynamic range problems. I use HDR a lot for old church interiors.

 

Looks great Mark, you've held the lights and darks in a good place for these and got some pretty nice compositions. I think this is the strongest set I've seen from you yet at Dunnotter and certainly not overcooked. Good job!

 

Good to know, I'll keep that in mind.

 

Thanks weepete, I think my aim was just to recreate what I saw at the time, wasn't going for any type of styled look. It's a very interesting process. Looking forward to trying it on a sunrise facing into the sun.