Thursday, September 7, 2023

Do we still need to exposure bracket?

Today's post processing engines and tools have incredible capability. In addition, using Lightroom as a hub, it's relatively easy to pop in and out of various software packages.

This software capability got me thinking: namely, whereas in the past I would exposure bracket a high DR scene, today an ETTR capture is likely to cover all my needs - at least for digital showing.

As an example, here is a handheld test image, of a high DR scene, taken with my EOS M3. Shot with UniWB, hence the green cast, at 11mm, with my trusty 11-22mm lens, at f/5.6, ISO 100 and 1/100s.

The Lightroom histogram of the RAW capture  looked like this:


As we can see, I ETTRed for the highlights.

My usual, CHDK based, in field workflow when handholding is to also take a +4Ev (insurance) ISO shot, via one of my Lua scripts - just in case I need some help in the deep shadows:


I then used a linear profile, together with a Lightroom preset I've developed, on both ISO images.

After a bit of tweaking and using some third-pary apps, eg Radiant Photo, I ended up with this, made from the ISO 100 capture, that is I didn’t need to cash in my ISO insurance:

The bottom line being, I've convinced myself that for handheld captures, at least for digital showing, I don't need to bracket beyond one additional +4Ev (insurance) ISO capture.

As usual I welcome any comments on this post or any of my posts.




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