Bracketing and how many?

polyglot · Jul 2, 2012

To those who bracket: how often do you go "damn I'm glad I bracketed" and use an alternative exposure?

And of those situations, how often can you not determine a way of modifying your metering process to arrive at the "better" exposure next time?

Diapositivo · Jul 2, 2012

Almost never bracket, with slides or with other kind of film.

The only situations when I can take more than one exposure is with slides, the very tricky high brightness range where the bright part of the image, the one which is at risk of washing up, is also the part where you must catch the details, texture etc while at the same time maintaining a decent legibility of the shadows. In those cases I tend to bracket 0.5 EV closer than the normal one in order to be sure that the highlight detailed scene doesn't fall in a part of the slide film curve where the detail is compromised.

Imagine for instance a house with a white wall directly hit by the sun, the wall has a typical "row" finishing, you want to preserve the white of the wall but also its texture. That's tricky as the typical incident light reading will risk to place the white surface a bit too much up the film curve. On the other hand, besides the wall you have some subjects that should not be blocked too much (let's say a tree). A spot light meter would solve the problem easily: measure the white wall, open 2.5 EV or 2.66 EV and it should be dead right, preserving the wall texture while giving the most shadows that the film can record. An incident meter leaves the photographer, in this particular situation, on a shaky ground: following it blindly might compromise the wall texture, closing an arbitrary value requires an arbitrary estimation of the wall reflectivity, with the risk of closing too much, more than strictly necessary. The spot metering takes into account precisely the wall reflectivity and places it on the right spot of the film curve.

Using a spot meter is slow and boring though. I now find it easier to walk around with only the incident light meter and bracket only in those tricky circumstances. Spot metering is something that I tend to reserve for night pictures nowadays.

As far as multiple compositions of the same shots are concerned, I sometime indulge in the exercise, main variants being: horizontal / vertical, and with people / without people, when the subject lends itself to it (keeping in mind my main subject is architecture / urban landscape).

blansky · Jul 2, 2012

j-dogg said:
I never bracket film, but I carry a digital with me and if I feel I need to bracket, I bracket 3 on that and use the same exposure on the film camera.

Interesting.

Since film exposure and digital are two different types of exposures.

With film you expose more for the shadow to get shadow detail.

In digital you ETR (exposure to the right) much like slides where you expose for the highlights.

Bill Burk · Jul 2, 2012

For me, in general, no bracketing exposures.

Black and white exposure is rarely an issue.

Scratches is another story. There I often wish for backup.

Color slide? Sometimes wished I did.

Sometimes bracketed, but then it didn't help.

Moral: You can't pay insurance "some of the time" and expect to be covered in an accident.

E. von Hoegh · Jul 2, 2012

polyglot said:
No bracketing, not even for chromes. Get your metering right and you don't need to bracket.

That's my position, too. BUT - there have been times using 35mm transparency and once or twice with MF, when the lighting is very complex, or changing rapidly, that I have bracketed. With the big cameras I do not bracket, ever.

blansky · Jul 2, 2012

How would you manage your shots if you were being paid for your work. Say $10,000 to get the shot.

Would you bracket, take a couple more exposures, overshoot the shot.

I'd be willing to bet you one-and-done guys may rethink your strategy.

Your reputation and your business relies upon your decision.

cliveh · Jul 2, 2012

blansky said:
How would you manage your shots if you were being paid for your work. Say $10,000 to get the shot.

Would you bracket, take a couple more exposures, overshoot the shot.

I'd be willing to bet you one-and-done guys may rethink your strategy.

Your reputation and your business relies upon your decision.

Thats why the pleasure of the creativity you put into photography can only be enjoyed outside commercial constraints.

Blighty · Jul 2, 2012

I reckon it depends on what you're shooting. Most of my shots include people in them - sometimes fast-moving, sometimes not. Either way, bracketing in these circumstances becomes a right-royal ball-ache. So, going all the way round Barrow to get to Morecambe (as we say round these parts), no, I tend not to bracket.

Ian Grant · Jul 2, 2012

cliveh said:
Thats why the pleasure of the creativity you put into photography can only be enjoyed outside commercial constraints.

I've done both and it makes no difference. You can enjoy creativity i within creative constraints.

Ian

markbarendt · Jul 2, 2012

blansky said:
How would you manage your shots if you were being paid for your work. Say $10,000 to get the shot.

Would you bracket, take a couple more exposures, overshoot the shot.

I'd be willing to bet you one-and-done guys may rethink your strategy.

Your reputation and your business relies upon your decision.

If I were to design a business plan to do this it still wouldn't include bracketing.

Instead of 1 spare it might be 2 or 3 for each pose/composition.

I would probably make other changes too, like a full CLA on each of my RB's and their lenses every year.

blansky · Jul 2, 2012

cliveh said:
Thats why the pleasure of the creativity you put into photography can only be enjoyed outside commercial constraints.

Nonsense. Where did you come up with this BS.

I thoroughly enjoy every single day of my photography INSIDE the commercial constraints (of which there are non.)

cliveh · Jul 2, 2012

blansky said:
Nonsense. Where did you come up with this BS.

I thoroughly enjoy every single day of my photography INSIDE the commercial constraints (of which there are non.)

Where did you come up with this BS.

blansky · Jul 2, 2012

cliveh said:
Where did you come up with this BS.

Experience.

markbarendt · Jul 2, 2012

cliveh said:
Where did you come up with this BS.

Is there some rule about not having fun and/or not being creative in a commercial setting?

cliveh · Jul 2, 2012

blansky said:
Experience.

Lets assume I specialise in portrait photography and have taken a hundred or so with my own inimitable style. A multimillionaire likes my style and commissions me to take one of him. This I do but after I have printed it I decide to put a huge blob of green oil paint on the right hand side of the face. But wait, he may not like this, he may not pay me, will he commission me again?

blansky · Jul 2, 2012

cliveh said:
Let’s assume I specialise in portrait photography and have taken a hundred or so with my own inimitable style. A multimillionaire likes my style and commissions me to take one of him. This I do but after I have printed it I decide to put a huge blob of green oil paint on the right hand side of the face. But wait, he may not like this, he may not pay me, will he commission me again?

What is creative about putting green paint on his face.

Why would I want to do that?

In fact if he asked me to do that, I wouldn't do it.

But if I somehow decided that it was a perfect place for green paint, then I could do that, but just on my personal copy and not the one he commissioned.

Are you somehow stating that because I can't do something in a commercial setting that this inhibits my creativity?

Are you stating that commercial photographers aren't creative?

Most photographs that we photographers revere were done while the photographer was working and being paid.

Thomas Bertilsson · Jul 2, 2012

No bracketing. I used to, but like Eggleston I get confused come printing time which negative to pick, so I just shoot one frame now.
To me, it's just good practice of my skills and keeps me sharp, and it also builds trust in my ability. Since my work is personal, it's not a big deal if I lose a frame due to a problem with my technique.

If I were a professional photographer, my take on it might be different.

cliveh · Jul 2, 2012

blansky said:
Are you somehow stating that because I can't do something in a commercial setting that this inhibits my creativity?

Yes

blansky · Jul 2, 2012

cliveh said:
Yes

Then obviously you would be wrong.

Bob Carnie · Jul 2, 2012

Currently on the project I am working on I am shooting a room away from where I am developing. At the start of each session I set up a shot, bracket what I think is normal and one over. Go into the darkroom develop , solarize , develop then into stop and fix. I judge the best makie lines and go with that exposure.
Today I exposed 40 sheets with no brackets and am getting the lines I want.

Outdoors is another thing, since I do not use a meter, I wet finger in the air to determine my settings , Therefore I estimate an exposure and bracket one half stop over as the second exposure. Works very well for me.
I use 160 ISo colour neg film and I use ISO 160 for HP5 so I use the same thinking for both colour and black/white.

Diapositivo · Jul 2, 2012

blansky said:
How would you manage your shots if you were being paid for your work. Say $10,000 to get the shot.

Would you bracket, take a couple more exposures, overshoot the shot.

For that budget I would not just bracket every single frame when possible, but also do it with different cameras, each roll sent to a different laboratory, or developed by myself in different batches, not forgetting to hire a second set of cameras, all CLA-ed carefully, and with a good insurance against client complaints on top

Professional highly paid work needs many forms of redundancy, and bracketing is just one of them.

Outside of this kind of specific situations I think bracketing "as a rule" creates more problems than it solves.

If you get out with your bicycle you only get your pump. If you are at a professional race you bring a car with several backup bicycles on the roof.

blansky · Jul 2, 2012

I think a lot of this comes from large format people who are very anal in how they shoot and take a lot of time to make the shot. They also pride themselves on not cropping (obviously for contact printing) and on a very deliberate approach.

Being a recipient of Murphys Law for a long time, I always over shoot whatever I do. Just in case....

Alan Klein · Jul 2, 2012

I shoot landscapes on medium format on a tripod using both chromes and negatives. I bracket +/- 1 stop against box ASA. I often shoot early or late in the day so exposures could be a problem, It's no big deal, works for me and I don't take that many pictures in an outing. In fact, if I didn't bracket, I often would not use the ten shots on the roll (6x7) on the same day. My calculated exposures are probably mostly on but I haven't really checked. I probably should bracket 2/3 of a stop or 1/2 stop. But I like switching the shutter speed, it's easier, and shutters are in whole stops.

pstake · Jul 2, 2012

Michael R 1974 said:
Early on in my musical education (was starting trumpet lessons at the time), I had a smart teacher who noticed I had a tendency to overanalyze my embouchure, often to the detriment of my playing. He reminded me what counts is the sound. If you sound like shit, a textbook set of chops counts for nothing.

What he said.

dpurdy · Jul 2, 2012

If for some reason you are unsure about the exposure and you can't re do it then it is wise to bracket if it is important. That is often the case in commercial photography when you need to keep working though you don't have time to see the film. That is for transparency. Negative film has enough latitude that you might shoot an extra sheet but you don't bracket. Shooting different views is called working the subject , not bracketing. I spent years in commercial photography and have never quite shaken the habit of working a subject. I shoot when something is acceptable because it might be the best I can do. Then I try to do something better. And then again try to do something better. You don't want to come up empty and you want to do the best you can.

Bracketing and how many?

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