I would like to introduce you to an HDR series, that will hopefully open new doors to help improve your HDR workflow.  I’ve been shooting HDR for a little over 14 months. Maybe not a very long time but after pushing sliders around in Photomatix I wasn’t quite satisfied. Eventually I reached that ah-ha moment when introduced to new techniques, so I hope with this series to help you achieve your very own ah-ha moment. Be sure to look for Part 2: Image Management in Aperture 3 and Part 3: HDR Tone-Mapping!

Step #1: Setting up your camera

– Your DSLR should have Auto-Exposure Bracketing (AEB) but if not you can still shoot your brackets by hand.

– I always shoot HDR in RAW (Full Resolution) with my camera in “Manual” mode.  You can use “Aperture Priority” mode, but if your bracketing manually like I do then you’ll want to use “Manual” mode.

– Set White Balance to AUTO (unless you have a grey card or color passport)

– If your camera has “Exposure Delay Mode” and your shooting on a tripod then use it!  (You can find this setting in your camera’s menu area)

– Set your “EV Steps For Exposure Control” to “1/2 Steps” instead of 1/3 steps. (Also found in your camera’s menu area)

– Now your set up to bracket for HDR, but you’ll will need to decide on how many brackets you need for your scene. Read More→