The day of my New York City adventure with Brian, Steve and Jesse we walked for a while until I decided to break the ice and capture our first set of brackets for a HDR photograph. When I set up my Promote Control to capture more than 13 brackets, I was asked why. Why, with such a dynamic and vibrant scene, do I need so many brackets?
The simple answer: I (or you) don’t.
The lengthy answer: There are some situations, like this one, where I really like a scene enough to overshoot. I know – I know. I am an advocate for shooting what you need and not overshooting. However, there are times where I will as a precaution. It is rare, but it happens. For a photograph like this, that I really liked a lot, I want the extra brackets to make sure I can create the HDR I vision or see naturally.
And that is what I did.
In the end, I wound up using 5 exposures from the set of brackets I captured. When first running through Photomatix, I started with 3, then went to 4 but as it turned out, I needed 5.
This photograph broke the ice and the rest of the day was filled with even more brackets, more cell phone snaps, more jokes, conversations and inspiration from friends.
And for the takeaway
While I am an advocate for taking your time to consider the scene and situation as not to overshoot – don’t be afraid to be safe and break this rule. It can’t hurt, but I wouldn’t recommend it all the time.
Thanks for reading and happy shooting,
Scott
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