By Jen Davis, Featured Writer for Rock My Photography and Owner of Photography by Jen Davis
With so much competition in this industry now, a photographer gets defined and measured by a lot of yard sticks. Price of course is one. But a lot of times, word of mouth is king. And nothing gets people talking like a ‘tographer’s ability to get that perfect shot. The one. And I have a little trick up my sleeve that helps me get ‘em.
Automatic Exposure Bracketing. AEB.
Learn it. Use it. Love it. Because I promise you, you will.
ISO 100, 35mm, f4.0
+1 exposure: 1/200sec, “correct” exposure: 1/400sec, -1 exposure: 1/800sec
This trick has saved me several times, especially in conditions where the light is changing rapidly (like the golden hour), or you just can’t seem to figure out your settings to create the look you see in your head (is this you, my new-to-shooting-manual friend?). So what is AEB? Fundamentally it is an in-camera selection that allows you to take numerous pictures (usually 3) at different exposures without stopping to change the settings manually on your camera. You tell the camera the change you want it to bracket (1/3 stop, 1 stop, 2 stop increments, etc) and you depress the shutter 3 times, while you are shooting in either burst or single shot mode. The three images will reflect the different exposure stops you were bracketing around for the one exposure that the camera was metering as correct. Most DSLRs and even some higher end point and shoot cameras will have this option. Canon and Nikon access it differently. I’m a Canon user, and AEB is a menu option for me, but I believe Nikon has a button to do this. Now, I realize you might have to hunt down the camera manual to figure out how to select this. Maybe you have been using it as a paperweight for your desk? But trust me, it’s worth it.
Of course I need to make a list in pretty much every post. Here is one that gives you some juicy morsels of information that are nice to know about AEB:
1. Yes, you will use up more memory doing this. Don’t worry! I did the math for you…and its triple the images. J But you are not going to shoot an entire session like this…and if you want to try it, just bring along more cards.
2. This works like a charm for both outside and inside locations. I know there are some of you who feel as if you have mastered the art of the outside light, but when it comes to inside…well there are some 4 letter words that make a repeated appearance. And to top it off, inside images usually involve little ones where you only get one opportunity to get it right. AEB!
ISO 500, 70mm, f2.2
+1 exposure: 1/200sec, “correct” exposure: 1/400sec, -1 exposure: 1/800sec
3. Even in manual mode, you lose some control of the camera when you do this. You are relinquishing some control back to the brain in the little black body. If you are going to use AEB in shutter priority mode, the camera will change the aperture to bracket the exposure (stopping down or going up in number to darken the image for the lower end of the bracket, and opening her up, or going down in number, for the higher end). If you are in aperture priority mode, the shutter speed will change {this is also how my AEB is set up in manual mode on my 5d Mark iii). This could be dicey for some of you with camera shake issues. Just make sure your ISO is set with enough room that when the shutter speed needs to be longer for the higher, or brighter, end of the bracket, you aren’t going to get a blurry exposure on top of a brighter one. Or tripod it. This is about solving problems friends!
4. Since I don’t shoot still life, I like to work in burst mode when using AEB, to get the composition of my image as close to identical as possible. My subjects are never still unless they are sleeping, which if you are my kids, hardly happens. You don’t have to do that though. On my Canon, I need to set the mode to burst after I have set up the AEB. The two aren’t linked. Again, find that paperweight!
5. Sometimes you aren’t going to get it right. And the image might need a little Photoshop magic. But how nice will it be when you can take the correctly exposed background from the -1 stop image and overlay correctly exposed subject from the +1 stop image to create the one. Of course there is some masking Photoshop trickery involved in that, but I don’t think you will mind after you get the $400 canvas order of the one.
Hear that? It’s your sanity returning. Aah!
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