HDR or Multi Shot

[Ramsden]

Hello from a snowy North of England 

EOS90d to hand and a new ef 70-300 IS USM just added. The attached photo was with my kit  135mm lens and I intend to take more railway + infrastructure. So I know some guys say switch off HDR probably because of its 'automatic' nature.

So I'm planning more viaduct shots and wondering about using multiple shots and learning to use bracketing. I still intend to mix freezing the train and blurring. Up to now the blurrs havent worked very well - more of a smudge! I learnt to use manual focus and try to work in M as much as possible.

So basically, will multi shots help or hinder in this process.

Thanks

Ramsden

 

[jrhoffman75]

In-camera HDR does the work for you, but is limited to three shots and produces a final JPEG.

If you choose bracketing you can get more range by selecting the settings, but you need post processing software.

The moving train will be a problem with bracketing. You might try bracketing of the viaduct w/o train and then capture with the train. Merge them in post.

From a composition standpoint you might want to frame the shot to eliminate much of the first third of the left side.

[Ramsden]

Thanks John - that was my concern using bracketing on a moving subject.

Ive had this camera for year now and continue to learn

Ramsden

[ebiggs1]

What was your goal here? Is it a properly exposed shot ot a silhouette? I can see neither needing HDR or bracketing.

Bassically, both HDR and bracketing are used for exposures that have a greater DR than the camera can record. Of course there are some special effects that can be done too.

DR range exceeded......................

Special effects...............

[Ramsden]

Hi EB

Good question! I've had cameras since I was a kid, and Canons for over 20 yrs at least. But last year I pushed the boat out and got the EOS90D and spent the last 12 months trying to learn how it works and get the most out of it. I love the camera, and you guys have been so supportive. I can honestly say, that I would still be on A and Jpeg - point and shoot without the help you guys have given. So, (Im 77 yrs old) Ive never used post photo editing, like DPP4 till recently, yet my late Father taught me to use a light meter and develop my own films when I was about 12yrs old. So photography is in my blood from a long time ago.

Back to the viaduct - my son and I pass that viaduct after his swimming club each week, around 9.00pm and we started taking our cameras, thinking, that will make a great photo. Then the problems began...composition, exposure, moving subjects.

But what I would like to do on some of the photos, is highlight the stonework and the profile of the arches, and the train is secondary, but ideally we want a train for effect. We are 'lucky' to have lots of these old Viaducts and railways near where we live.

I hope all this makes sense, and I appreciate your patience.

Ramsden

[Ramsden]

HI Again

This isn’t a brilliant photo, but hopefully you can see the stonework. It was difficult to get a good place to shoot from. 

Ramsden

[DougsGraphics]

Hi Ramsden,

If I understand correctly, you are looking to properly expose the stonework and that blows out the sky. I have not played with HDR mode for moving subjects, so I am not sure how that will work out. Your best option is probably combining multiple images in post. It would then be possible to simply isolate the scene aspects and combine the separate exposures. To accomplish in camera, a graduated ND filter could be used to attempt to normalize the lighting across the scene, assuming you can't find a time of day where the lighting meets your needs.

Doug 

[Ramsden · Accepted solution]

Thanks Dougs

Combing graphics sounds a good idea - it’s also something I need to learn to do effectively. It’s all part of my learning process - which I’m enjoying.

Regards

Ramsden

[DougsGraphics]

If you run into issues with that, give me a shout and I will try to help you out. 

[Ramsden]

Thanks 

I’ll probably take you up on that offer. I’m planning to take some more pictures with my new lens and we can take it from there. 

Ramsden