I realize HDR is taking multiple photos bracketed (for example regular shot and 1 over exposed and 1 under)

I was using my Phantom 3 Pro (do not crucify me for being on here yet..have a follow up question)

I shot in DNG's. I opened each photo in photoshop and bumped the exposure up 1.00 hit save and bumped in down 1. Imported the 3 dngs into lightroom cc and merged into one file. Photo>>Photo Merge >> HDR.

I loved the results and expanded editing options.

My questions

1) What is difference if take multiple shots in field or make them artificially (copy and adjust exposure on the copies)?

2) When I upgrade to the x5...can you take mulitple bracketed shots in the air? With the movements in the air is their alot of ghosting? (any best practices)                                                

Ah..here is the answer.



Doing bracketing in the field gets more data but if you only take one shot doing it at your desk still can create better results.

good explanation, remember to share your bracketing works here, i'm sure we'll enjoy them

Couple HDR Panoramics taken today

Shots taken with the X5. Edited in Lightroom 6

Perfect answer.  It all gets into dynamic range of the camera.  For what Brian was doing, like you implied, he didn't even have to get into the HDR work flow.  Bumping up the shadows in the Lightroom develop module would probably have done it, there is a lot of power there.   I bought a Nikon D800 a few years ago, and discovered a beach front condo balcony can be a dynamic range nightmare.  I was so naive.  Not being able to take a photo that was properly exposed overall, in one shot, was new to me.  Lucky for me, it was an ultra quick lesson in dynamic range, and HDR.  I WAS amazed at photos that could.be "salvaged" by shooting raw, and not blowing out the highlights.  If the deep shadows are also "blown out", on the low end, and the histogram on your camera (or in Lightroom, but then it's too late) can tell you, then you're hosed.  But if you've shot at a low ISO, and shadowed (or rather the darkest points in the image), aren't "too dark", sometimes the resulting photo can be more than acceptable.  But sometimes you'll miscalculate -- when you bring up the dark areas there is noticeable noise.  Or even worse, you can't bring them up enough.

So even if your intent isn't to take "HDR images", if a beautiful sunrise shot (say), is important to you, taking bracketed exposures that have every area sufficiently exposed is great insurance against disaster, and regardless you'll probably end up with a better photo in any case with the bracketed photos in an HDR program.

PS I don't think the 0.7EV exposure differential is large enough on the P3P.  That will only give you a baseline, and +/- 1.4 stop increases at each extreme.  There are MANY scenes where this won't get you there.

Oh, the reason I mentioned the 0.7 exposure differential limit in bracketing, is that even if you play some games and take enough photos to cover the dynamic range, you increase your risk oh ghosting -- which is a misalignment of the images.  The further you get from perfect, the worse the potential problem. Duh...  HDR programs will attempt to help you in this regard.  But they can only do so much.

I've noticed that lots of people, who are trying for a perfectly realistic image "like their eyes saw", can forget that some parts of the image WERE pretty dark.  Quite visible, but dark.  Brighten these areas up too much and you've given away you're HDR workflow.  And you might not want to.  Increasing the saturation in an attempt to compensate for lost contrast, can bring spectacular results when done on purpose, but if you're trying to accurately reproduce a scene that had a high DR, beware.  People like saturated colors.  Most photos are probably more vivid then the scene really was.

I always shoot 5 bracketed shots just to get as much data as possible.  Although I shoot all HDR I try to make my photos as less HDR as possible if that makes any sense.   My Inspire 1 Pro X5 arrives tomorrow and can't wait.  I've been shooting with a P3P for the past year.  I bracket several different ways.  Although I shoot 5 shot I may only use 3, and on rare occasions I'll use only 2.  Layer them in PS, use lightroom to blend and other software.  All shots don't call for 5, but I say shoot it anyway, nothing worst than getting into post and missing that one part of the photo that you don't have good exposure of.  Check out some of my aerial P3P HDR photos on Flickr here --->>> https://www.flickr.com/gp/42590008@N03/b3E27t

chuckroberts3@g Posted at 2016-6-15 19:02
I always shoot 5 bracketed shots just to get as much data as possible.  Although I shoot all HDR I try to make my photos as less HDR as possible if that makes any sense.   My Inspire 1 Pro X5 arrives tomorrow and can't wait.  I've been shooting with a P3P for the past year.  I bracket several different ways.  Although I shoot 5 shot I may only use 3, and on rare occasions I'll use only 2.  Layer them in PS, use lightroom to blend and other software.  All shots don't call for 5, but I say shoot it anyway, nothing worst than getting into post and missing that one part of the photo that you don't have good exposure of.  Check out some of my aerial P3P HDR photos on Flickr here --->>> https://www.flickr.com/gp/42590008@N03/b3E27t

If you want HDR resolution without the "artificial" look that occurs when combined in an HDR app, you are better off bracketing and importing to layers in Photoshop then masking to take advantage of the best exposure from each shot, blended properly it will net a natural looking photo with no chance of ghosting. Yes it's more work, but it will be YOUR work, YOUR art and not the work of an algorithm where no matter how many parameters you can control, you really do not have independent control of the layers and will end up with a less than natural look. Just remember shadows do exist in the real world, blown out highlights also exist, even your eyes cannot compensate for absolute extreme light to dark range, so if you use a very light layer where there should be shadows you will also get into the unnatural and the photo will be a bit fake looking. Another advantage of this, is that you can manipulate the dynamics of each layer individually, so if by sheer chance you don't have the exposure you need in a particular area of the photo, you can always nudge it to get it spot on to your liking.