Exposure settings using bracketing help?

[Carl911]

I have been looking at taking a few HDR pictures using the built in 'Bracketing' system within my Canon 40D.
Can anyone tell me whats the best setting to do, eg, -1, 0, +1 or should there be more split between the exposures?

Cheers Carl

[alex3410]

if i do it on camera i always use the biggest gap available (don't know if its the best way but works well )

the other way of doing it (and the way i use most of the time now) is to shoot in RAW and process it 3 times with different exposures

that way you can make HDR out of any image you take (assuming you shoot in RAW for all pics) and it lets you have some freedom in how big the gap is

[kencaleno]

It all depends on how far out (+/-) your camera metering is.

Choose a fine sunny day, and a scene with all 5 stops of dynamic range.

Camera on tripod,matrix/evaluative metering,A/Av shooting mode.

Using Exposure compensation, make 7 exposures From +1 to -1

Enlarge to 100% (actual pixels) in photoshop-select the one that gives most detail in both shadows and highlights,without highlight being blown out.

This one is what you set your camera to.

Now your camera is calibrated for optimum performance

Set auto bracketing to 2/3 ev increments

One of your 3 shots will always be within 1/3 of an ev stop.

regards, Ken

[Carl911]

Thanks for the replies. I will go practice this weekend and see if I can get something interesting.