Exposure bracketing on t3i

Hello,

I have only been able to bracket 3 photos with different exposures. I want to get into HDR and in a lot of tutorials I see people with 7 bracketed photos. So is the t3i only able to bracket 3?

Thanks.

Yes, but that doesn't stop you from switching to manual mode and doing the 7 expsures yourself.

Would the best/easiest way to do that is use exposure compensation or adjust your shutter speed, aperture, and iso to adjust exposure?

You also can use a combination of bracketing and Exposure Compensation...

The first thing to do is be sure your camera is set to shoot exposures in 1/3-stop increments.

Next, set up the bracketing... Three shots, 2/3 stops apart. I don't know about T3i specifically, but some Canon models you can set to that bracketing continues, so that it doesn't cancel after each set. Also, you can set the sequence order (I'd go with the -, 0, + sequence, just for conveniennce).

Next, you have to be in an auto exposure mode to use Exposure Compensation. Choose Av for this, so your aperture remains set and depth of field doesn't change over the course of your shots. Now dial your Exposure Compensation to -2 stops and take a a bracketed set of 3 shots. Then set the EC to 0 and take three more. Then set the EC to +2 stops and take a final set of three. You might want to use AE Lock before taking the exposures, too.

If you prefer, you could use 1/3 stop increments, rather than the 2/3 I recommended. Or maybe you could change your camera to use 1/2 stop (I don't have T3i, so can't say). If you use narrower incrmeents, you'll want to adapt your EC a bit, or might want to take more or less total shots in some situations.

Later look at the images side by side and select the ones you want to use to "build" the HDR image.

Or, you can just switch to M and make a series of shots, whatever number you wish, using whatever increments you wish. This is more certain to give you exact increments to work with, rather than relying upon Auto Exposure and AEB, combined with EC.

The 5DIII is the first Canon that can do more than 3 shot bracketing... it can do up to 7. Maybe the 1DX will be able to do that, too... I don't know. Some Nikon can do up to 9 shot bracketing. I don't know about other camera manufacturers.

EDIT: I alluded to it a little above... I'd keep the aperture the same and not vary it. Same with ISO probably. So I'd change the shutter speed to get the different expsosures.

Changing the aperture would possibly change the depth of field in each shot, which might make problems later when trying to assemble the images.

ISO might work, but it's harder to access without bumping the camera and might add noise at the more extreme settings.

So I think the easiest thing to do would be to change shutter speeds. The subject for a series of HDR shots can't be moving, so using various shutter speeds shouldn't be a problem.

amfoto1 wrote in post #14247020
You also can use a combination of bracketing and Exposure Compensation...

The first thing to do is be sure your camera is set to shoot exposures in 1/3-stop increments.

Next, set up the bracketing... Three shots, 2/3 stops apart. I don't know about T3i specifically, but some Canon models you can set to that bracketing continues, so that it doesn't cancel after each set. Also, you can set the sequence order (I'd go with the -, 0, + sequence, just for conveniennce).

Next, you have to be in an auto exposure mode to use Exposure Compensation. Choose Av for this, so your aperture remains set and depth of field doesn't change over the course of your shots. Now dial your Exposure Compensation to -2 stops and take a a bracketed set of 3 shots. Then set the EC to 0 and take three more. Then set the EC to +2 stops and take a final set of three. You might want to use AE Lock before taking the exposures, too.

If you prefer, you could use 1/3 stop increments, rather than the 2/3 I recommended. Or maybe you could change your camera to use 1/2 stop (I don't have T3i, so can't say). If you use narrower incrmeents, you'll want to adapt your EC a bit, or might want to take more or less total shots in some situations.

Later look at the images side by side and select the ones you want to use to "build" the HDR image.

Or, you can just switch to M and make a series of shots, whatever number you wish, using whatever increments you wish. This is more certain to give you exact increments to work with, rather than relying upon Auto Exposure and AEB, combined with EC.

The 5DIII is the first Canon that can do more than 3 shot bracketing... it can do up to 7. Maybe the 1DX will be able to do that, too... I don't know. Some Nikon can do up to 9 shot bracketing. I don't know about other camera manufacturers.

EDIT: I alluded to it a little above... I'd keep the aperture the same and not vary it. Same with ISO probably. So I'd change the shutter speed to get the different expsosures.

Changing the aperture would possibly change the depth of field in each shot, which might make problems later when trying to assemble the images.

ISO might work, but it's harder to access without bumping the camera and might add noise at the more extreme settings.

So I think the easiest thing to do would be to change shutter speeds. The subject for a series of HDR shots can't be moving, so using various shutter speeds shouldn't be a problem.

Wow, thank you so much for this in depth mini tutorial.

What about oceans? Won't the waves on shore be all messed up with different shutter speeds?