Help with taking photos for HDR

[TheCheeseLady]

HDR seems really neat. I want to give it a try. But I seem to have forgotten all the terminology from my photo classes.

I know I take multiple pictures at different exposures, but I've seen where it just said -2 stop, -1 stop, 0 ect. What exactly does this mean?

I have a nikon D60. Does that mean only 1 "click" over adjusting shutter speed for each photo?

Sorry. I know it's simple, but I'm totally drawing a blank!

 

[480sparky39 38]

It means to take a series of exposures, one at "properly exposed", then overexpose one or two frames by one stop each and underexpose one or two frames by one stop each.

For instance, if 'proper exposure' is 1/250 at f/8, you would shoot that, plus one frame at 1/125 and one at 1/500, leaving the aperture at f/8

Or, you could do 5 frames, 1/60, 1/1/25, 1/250, 1/500 and 1/1000.

Or, you could do 5 frames.... 1/8, 1/30, 1/125, 1/500 and 1/2000.


One 'click' on your D60 will only be 1/3 or 1/2 stop, depending on how you have it set up.

 

[889Media]

Stop is not as easy as "1 click", but still simple when you get used to the term.

In ISO and shutter speed, doubling your value or cutting it in half, will count as one stop up or down. If you start by an ISO of 100 and go two stops up, you will have 400 (doubling your 100 to 200, and doubling that again to 400). Same in shutter speed; 2 seconds is twice as long as 1 second, and would count as a change in shutter speed of 1 stop.

Most cameras will make this easy for you. In the settings, you get to choose if you want to make changes in e.g. shutter speed of 1/2 or 1/3 increments. This means that a total of 3 clicks will make up for 1 stop if you go with 1/3, and of course 2 clicks for one stop if 1/2 is your setting! (but even if just counting number of clicks, you should know what I first said about stops).

What I just said about 1/2 and 1/3 also apply when changing your aperture value, and at 1/3 you still would use 3 clicks on your dial to get one stop. The difference here is that you can not use the doubling and cutting in half for a guideline for stopping up and down.

Here is a chart (from wikipedia.org), that show you the scale of aperture values. The numbers in green is one stop from the number in green, both before and after. As you can see, it is not a half/double value from the next, but you still have it as number 3 in line from the previous/next.
[TABLE="class: wikitable"]
[TR="bgcolor: #E5D1CB"]
[TD="bgcolor: #CCFFCC"]1.4[/TD]
[TD]1.6[/TD]
[TD]1.8[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #CCFFCC"]2[/TD]
[TD]2.2[/TD]
[TD]2.5[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #CCFFCC"]2.8[/TD]
[TD]3.2[/TD]
[TD]3.5[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #CCFFCC"]4[/TD]
[TD]4.5[/TD]
[TD]5.0[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #CCFFCC"]5.6[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Hope this was not too complicated, and even not directly related to your HDR question it should get you a feeling of what a "Stop" actually is - and as you mentioned stops in your original post, and seems to get it a bit wrong - I just thought I should point you in the right direction. Good luck on your HDRs!

 

[DiskoJoe]

You need to read your manual. I do not say this to be mean. This information will be explained in your manual. You need to figure out how to do this well before you make any attempt at creating hdr. Also for HDR you need programs to merge the photos such as photoshop or a better program would be photomatix. but trust me read the manual and come back to hdr in a few months. You still have plenty of basics to learn before you make the jump.

 

[TheCheeseLady]

Hi, thanks for the replies. Yes, my memory is starting to come back to me from the classes about that.


I just do photography as a hobby, so I tend to just not bother with terms and just finagle around with the settings on my own and see what I get. I took classes to help familiarize myself with more of a camera's capabilities, and I remember him going over this stuff. I just couldn't remember the details!

I haven't really been able to mess with the camera and settings yet, so I was just reading up online how people did it and just got lost in the terms. But I understand now!:thumbup:

Thanks again.

 

[shootermcgavin]

If you have a tripod why worry about it, just manual adjust the settings. My canon only does +1 -1, but I never use it anyway just shoot one correctly exposed and go up 2 and down 2 with shutter speed usually, sometimes 1 depends on the place.

 

[Redeyejedi]

also, depending on how static your subject is, may also requires you use ISO and shutter speed so as to not have you scene change. clouds can move, wind can move leaves and branches and waves in the ocean also are constantly moving. i usually don't adjust aperture cause dof changes.
there are also software hdr methods, but i don't go that route; one well exposed shot, save, and copy 2 or 4 others and adjust the exposure of those. i generally don't like the results of that software hdr method.