Bracketing is one way to increase the dynamic range of your camera. The process is:
- You shoot two or more images of the same scene with different exposures. E.g., one at normal exposure, then another one overexposed by one stop, underexposed by one stop and so on.
- In post production, you can combine these images to form one final image which will have a greater tonal range (dynamic range). This is called a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image. The tool I use for this is Photoshop, though there are specialized software out there, like Photomatix Pro (B&H, Amazon)
- You can combine bracketing with timelapses to create HDR timelapses.
Here’s how you bracket your images in the Sony a7R II:
Notes
Bracketing takes a lot of experimentation, because you also need to get used to using the HDR software and find out what it is capable of. Don’t expect to master HDR photography in a few weeks. It’ll take a lot more time than that.
