Another great video. Not sure you said it directly, but 3 images 2 stops apart covers the identical dynamic range of 5 images 1 stop apart. The only difference is that the 5 image set gets there more gradually, which may or may not matter depending on your workflow. I know that you've demonstrated the way your process bracketed sets, which is manually blending them, but I thought it would be interesting for you to demonstrate the way Lightroom would have blended each set into an HDR to see if there's any discernable difference.
I've always shot 3, 2 stops apart with great results. After all blending is one properly exposed, one over and one under. No need to complicate or over think it.
I've been using my Sony A7 for the past 2 months do a real estate and I've been shooting 5 brakes +2, and I've been getting really good results, I want to try 3 because sometimes I have so many files, but I like to run safe😅😅😅
Working with a7IV, I mix it up a lot depending on who I'm shooting for. Real Estate, safe bet is 2.0EV5, even on really sunny day. Something to note, you'll get a hair more dynamic range per exposure at ISO 100 vs ISO 400(for a7IV). The second base will be more efficient if that's your goal, just pointing out how to stretch same brackets if needed. For interior design & Architecture shoots, I'll shoot 1.0EV5 and 1.0EV9 depending on how much dynamic range in the scene. Architecture & Interior Design shoots typically have less photos in final delivery, so it's not like you're shooting 9 exposures for 36+ final photos. None of the above changes when I mix in flash. I like the safety of brackets just in case the flash exposures just didn't turn out like I wanted.
Glad to see, others are researching topics of interest. I did this experiment months ago, when I started following your channel. I came across some articles that explained exposure values (EV’s) in great detail. On summer days, on bright days, you can have 15 EV‘s of light. When close to the water, it can get up to 17 EV‘s so, one should be able to catch this much dynamic range with all these bracketed shots. I was thinking that 5 exposures at 3 EV’s apart should cover the entire range of 15 EVs, in bright daylight. It does work, but Lightoom is not good at composing with so much data. The colors really become diminished. One has to do lots of color correction in the end when doing the HDR mode in Lightroom or in Photoshop. So, I kind of gave up on this method. it is a lot of usage and wear on the camera, if you think about it. You end up with close to half of shots a wedding photographer would do. So, it the cost on our part worth it?
Yeah, I'm currently at over 300,000 shutter actuations on my camera 😬. No matter what type of real estate photography you are doing (brackets or flambient) it requires multiple exposures so it's not going to be that different either way. Flambient may work out to be slightly less but sometimes I'm shooting more exposures for a flambient shot than I would be if I was just shooting brackets so I think it will be pretty close (at least for the way I shoot).
Exactly, why do this test, and then not show the actual results, I would have rather just seen the final images, opposed to seeing the the same shots at different exposures. Much more helpful to say here is 3 brackets 2 stops apart and here is the image 5 bracket 2 stops apart... And most of us are shooting raw, so you can easily bring down the exposure, in the 3 bracket images to match that in the 5 bracket image
I shoot 5 brackets, 1-2/3 stops on Canon R6. Prior used the same on 6D. I've tried many combos as well and this works best for me. It gets all the DR in 99% of the shots I take. If there is extreme DR, I go 5 brackets 2 stops.
I always do 3 images 2 stops apart, and if I need more detail out the window, I just under expose the whole bracket by one stop, works perfect every time. I have never needed to shoot more than 3 brackets, I live on the east coast, shoot on Cape Cod frequently and properties right on the water, and never had an issue with getting the best view out the windows, regardless of the dynamic range in the image. Also keep in mind, (at least for my editor, and I think most editors if you outsource) They charge more per image if you are using more brackets. Great video as usual.
Thanks for another invaluable video. It would've been nice to see the resulting image from each set for comparison. From what I gather, many RE photographers use 5 images, 2 stops apart. I guess it's the sweet spot. My camera is limited to 3 images, 2 stops apart. I don't find it sufficient for interior shots. To get good exposure for typical interior lighting situations, the windows are always very overexposed, even on a cloudy day.
I've been learning so much from your videos, thank you. I'm new to Real Estate Photography so this is very helpful. My full frame camera is limited to only 3 brackets and my crop sensor takes 5 so I've been experimenting with both.
Nice comparison here! I have found that 1 stop increments result in better results and easier editing for me. Since my camera supports AEB of up to 7 brackets, I use 7 brackets - 1 stop apart most of the time. But I plan on testing your recommendation of 5 brackets - 2 stops apart to see what suits me best.
to be able to shoot the entire Dynamic range of the scene first you have to know how many EV stops difference there is between the highlights that you want to keep details and shadows you want to keep details. Secondly, after knowing that you have also to know how much dynamic range your sensor can capture!!!! Right? right, so let's say your camera or most cameras can capture possibly up to three stops safe up on plus side and 3 stops down so 6 stops in total. The scene you try to capture is let's say 10 stops apart and there is the magic your camera can capture 6 stops based on the calibration you did and found out the true dynamic range of clipping points on both sides, then you need more 4 additional stops to cover the entire scene. You either start positioning the shadow details first and then the additional shots will go up to highlights to make sure you cover them all. If the scene is inside your dynamic range you don't need any bracketing to be able to do that quickly and accurately you need a true 1 degree hand held spot meter light Sekonic 758DR or 858D that should be calibrated to your combo camera and lens so it shows you exactly the dynamic range of your camera. Not only that you need to know very well the zone system so you compensate when you place the shadows to its zone when you meter them and you place the shadows part you meter making sure you position them to zone 3 (with little details) and start bracketing from there. Or you spot meter the highlights and position them to the zone 9 which in my case is the highest possible opening from zone 5 to retain details on clouds. Light meters or camera's spot meter will always put your reading to an average zone 5 tone. More exactly spot meter your highlights and open up that reading to the zone you wish that is your starting point to bracket, and then you meter the shadows you want to retain detail and close down to the zone you know your camera can retain details zone 3 in this case the range between those points is your dynamic range then bracket with 1 stop between exposures so when you blend them you have the real contrast of the scene and don't stick in front of your computer spending time to touch sliders to figure out where the highlight slide should be or shadow slide should be and at the end you end up with a very weird and ugly image because you have messed up with tonalities. Light meters will help you also finding your zone 5 and from there meter the highlights and see how + they are from middle zone and how - there is from middle zone that way you know exactly how many shots you need to take. Knowledge is power and saves you frustration and time in the field and makes you a real professional and not spending time shooting countless shots and then you are lost in front of your computer. Make your life easier .
I shot a house thats very dark with no natural light with 3 images 2 stops. The photos didn’t come out very bright and room seemed dark. What could I do to fix this? I don’t have a flash by the way
You have to rely heavier on the the brightest bracket when blending it to get the exposure you want (granted that is if you are blending them together by hand which is what I would recommend doing).
I have been doing mostly drone and exterior work for my clients, but I have a new client that sells hotels and wanted interiors, (lobby, fitness room, rooms etc.)I have been shooting 5 images 2 stops apart and merging in Luminar Neo, they look good, but sometimes a little cartoony, Clients have still been pretty happy, but Since I am not dealing a lot with exterior light sources, would you suggest shooting 5 images 1 stop apart? I find if I drop the 2nd overexposed shot, it looks better. Thanks for your videos
Possibly if you are auto merging them all together. If you are hand blending them (which is what I recommend) then you have full control over the look and the blend. Many times I don’t even use all the brackets. Sometimes I only use 2.
Thanks for doing this video, Mike! I like the 5 images 2 stops apart the best and also 3 images 2 stops apart. What size RAW Images are you using for your REP? I have a Nikon D850 that has RAW Small (12mp), Medium (25mp) or Large (45mp) Which one would you suggest?
Great information. I do have a question about a Rebel T7 camera. I have tried shooting two stops which captures the indoor information good. However, the outdoor (looking thru the window) is over exposed. What is a good starting point for the settings? Auto everytihng or manual, if manual what is a good setting to start with?
Yes that definitely matters. I should’ve mentioned I shoot in aperture priority so I let the camera decide the shutter speed for initial exposure (at least most of the time. If I don’t like what it’s doing I’ll use the exposure compensation dial).
The view out of the window? My concern is the interior of the room being if focus unless I'm taking a dedicated shot specifically to show the view then of course I would be making sure the view out of the window was in focus.
Another great video. Not sure you said it directly, but 3 images 2 stops apart covers the identical dynamic range of 5 images 1 stop apart. The only difference is that the 5 image set gets there more gradually, which may or may not matter depending on your workflow. I know that you've demonstrated the way your process bracketed sets, which is manually blending them, but I thought it would be interesting for you to demonstrate the way Lightroom would have blended each set into an HDR to see if there's any discernable difference.
Good idea!
I would love to see this experiment video!
Same here! Even if you just posted the results online for us to view. I’m going to try this experiment myself as well. Great video
I've always shot 3, 2 stops apart with great results. After all blending is one properly exposed, one over and one under. No need to complicate or over think it.
I've been using my Sony A7 for the past 2 months do a real estate and I've been shooting 5 brakes +2, and I've been getting really good results, I want to try 3 because sometimes I have so many files, but I like to run safe😅😅😅
Working with a7IV, I mix it up a lot depending on who I'm shooting for. Real Estate, safe bet is 2.0EV5, even on really sunny day. Something to note, you'll get a hair more dynamic range per exposure at ISO 100 vs ISO 400(for a7IV). The second base will be more efficient if that's your goal, just pointing out how to stretch same brackets if needed. For interior design & Architecture shoots, I'll shoot 1.0EV5 and 1.0EV9 depending on how much dynamic range in the scene. Architecture & Interior Design shoots typically have less photos in final delivery, so it's not like you're shooting 9 exposures for 36+ final photos. None of the above changes when I mix in flash. I like the safety of brackets just in case the flash exposures just didn't turn out like I wanted.
Thank you for sharing that! Love hearing what works for everyone
I think 5/2 has all the information I need. I would be too worry that with a 3/2 I leave the house without everything I need.
Glad to see, others are researching topics of interest. I did this experiment months ago, when I started following your channel. I came across some articles that explained exposure values (EV’s) in great detail. On summer days, on bright days, you can have 15 EV‘s of light. When close to the water, it can get up to 17 EV‘s so, one should be able to catch this much dynamic range with all these bracketed shots. I was thinking that 5 exposures at 3 EV’s apart should cover the entire range of 15 EVs, in bright daylight. It does work, but Lightoom is not good at composing with so much data. The colors really become diminished. One has to do lots of color correction in the end when doing the HDR mode in Lightroom or in Photoshop. So, I kind of gave up on this method. it is a lot of usage and wear on the camera, if you think about it. You end up with close to half of shots a wedding photographer would do. So, it the cost on our part worth it?
Yeah, I'm currently at over 300,000 shutter actuations on my camera 😬. No matter what type of real estate photography you are doing (brackets or flambient) it requires multiple exposures so it's not going to be that different either way. Flambient may work out to be slightly less but sometimes I'm shooting more exposures for a flambient shot than I would be if I was just shooting brackets so I think it will be pretty close (at least for the way I shoot).
this is great information - would love to see the results for each setting.
Exactly, why do this test, and then not show the actual results, I would have rather just seen the final images, opposed to seeing the the same shots at different exposures. Much more helpful to say here is 3 brackets 2 stops apart and here is the image 5 bracket 2 stops apart... And most of us are shooting raw, so you can easily bring down the exposure, in the 3 bracket images to match that in the 5 bracket image
Thanks for the awesome video experiment
I shoot 5 brackets, 1-2/3 stops on Canon R6. Prior used the same on 6D. I've tried many combos as well and this works best for me. It gets all the DR in 99% of the shots I take. If there is extreme DR, I go 5 brackets 2 stops.
I always do 3 images 2 stops apart, and if I need more detail out the window, I just under expose the whole bracket by one stop, works perfect every time. I have never needed to shoot more than 3 brackets, I live on the east coast, shoot on Cape Cod frequently and properties right on the water, and never had an issue with getting the best view out the windows, regardless of the dynamic range in the image. Also keep in mind, (at least for my editor, and I think most editors if you outsource) They charge more per image if you are using more brackets. Great video as usual.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience!
thanks so much for the video super informative but whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy you dont merge the imagens so we can see the real diference ?
Thanks for another invaluable video. It would've been nice to see the resulting image from each set for comparison. From what I gather, many RE photographers use 5 images, 2 stops apart. I guess it's the sweet spot. My camera is limited to 3 images, 2 stops apart. I don't find it sufficient for interior shots. To get good exposure for typical interior lighting situations, the windows are always very overexposed, even on a cloudy day.
very good idea and reflexion..too bad not to have shown the result with Lr hdr
I've been learning so much from your videos, thank you. I'm new to Real Estate Photography so this is very helpful. My full frame camera is limited to only 3 brackets and my crop sensor takes 5 so I've been experimenting with both.
Thanks for the close look at Bracketing!
Thanks for taking the time to do the experiment.
Nice comparison here! I have found that 1 stop increments result in better results and easier editing for me. Since my camera supports AEB of up to 7 brackets, I use 7 brackets - 1 stop apart most of the time. But I plan on testing your recommendation of 5 brackets - 2 stops apart to see what suits me best.
Either of those should work well! Yeah, definitely try it out and see which you prefer more in editing. That will definitely be the test!
to be able to shoot the entire Dynamic range of the scene first you have to know how many EV stops difference there is between the highlights that you want to keep details and shadows you want to keep details. Secondly, after knowing that you have also to know how much dynamic range your sensor can capture!!!! Right? right, so let's say your camera or most cameras can capture possibly up to three stops safe up on plus side and 3 stops down so 6 stops in total. The scene you try to capture is let's say 10 stops apart and there is the magic your camera can capture 6 stops based on the calibration you did and found out the true dynamic range of clipping points on both sides, then you need more 4 additional stops to cover the entire scene. You either start positioning the shadow details first and then the additional shots will go up to highlights to make sure you cover them all.
If the scene is inside your dynamic range you don't need any bracketing to be able to do that quickly and accurately you need a true 1 degree hand held spot meter light Sekonic 758DR or 858D that should be calibrated to your combo camera and lens so it shows you exactly the dynamic range of your camera. Not only that you need to know very well the zone system so you compensate when you place the shadows to its zone when you meter them and you place the shadows part you meter making sure you position them to zone 3 (with little details) and start bracketing from there. Or you spot meter the highlights and position them to the zone 9 which in my case is the highest possible opening from zone 5 to retain details on clouds. Light meters or camera's spot meter will always put your reading to an average zone 5 tone. More exactly spot meter your highlights and open up that reading to the zone you wish that is your starting point to bracket, and then you meter the shadows you want to retain detail and close down to the zone you know your camera can retain details zone 3 in this case the range between those points is your dynamic range then bracket with 1 stop between exposures so when you blend them you have the real contrast of the scene and don't stick in front of your computer spending time to touch sliders to figure out where the highlight slide should be or shadow slide should be and at the end you end up with a very weird and ugly image because you have messed up with tonalities.
Light meters will help you also finding your zone 5 and from there meter the highlights and see how + they are from middle zone and how - there is from middle zone that way you know exactly how many shots you need to take. Knowledge is power and saves you frustration and time in the field and makes you a real professional and not spending time shooting countless shots and then you are lost in front of your computer. Make your life easier .
I shot a house thats very dark with no natural light with 3 images 2 stops. The photos didn’t come out very bright and room seemed dark. What could I do to fix this? I don’t have a flash by the way
You have to rely heavier on the the brightest bracket when blending it to get the exposure you want (granted that is if you are blending them together by hand which is what I would recommend doing).
I shoot 5/2 where a window is in view and 3/3 on internals with no window view, outside 3/2
so you recommend changing the stops depending on siltation ? if i just did 5/2 for all situation would that be noticeably worse?
It would work
Excellent tutorial comparison review video. Thank you Mike.
I have been doing mostly drone and exterior work for my clients, but I have a new client that sells hotels and wanted interiors, (lobby, fitness room, rooms etc.)I have been shooting 5 images 2 stops apart and merging in Luminar Neo, they look good, but sometimes a little cartoony, Clients have still been pretty happy, but Since I am not dealing a lot with exterior light sources, would you suggest shooting 5 images 1 stop apart? I find if I drop the 2nd overexposed shot, it looks better. Thanks for your videos
Excellent comparison
I'd be curious to see the images hdr processed. I've heard that a greater number of brackets is more likely to look fake.
Possibly if you are auto merging them all together. If you are hand blending them (which is what I recommend) then you have full control over the look and the blend. Many times I don’t even use all the brackets. Sometimes I only use 2.
Thanks for doing this video, Mike! I like the 5 images 2 stops apart the best and also 3 images 2 stops apart. What size RAW Images are you using for your REP? I have a Nikon D850 that has RAW Small (12mp), Medium (25mp) or Large (45mp) Which one would you suggest?
Thanks brother
Great information. I do have a question about a Rebel T7 camera. I have tried shooting two stops which captures the indoor information good. However, the outdoor (looking thru the window) is over exposed. What is a good starting point for the settings? Auto everytihng or manual, if manual what is a good setting to start with?
Search my channel for “full real estate photography course” video. Explains all the basics.
Can I use a canon R50?
Typically i do 5 x 2 stops apart but it's not ideal for all situations
Here’s one…I shoot Canon & 4 stops with the IOS app Cascable…
Isn’t where you take your exposure reading as important ?
Yes that definitely matters. I should’ve mentioned I shoot in aperture priority so I let the camera decide the shutter speed for initial exposure (at least most of the time. If I don’t like what it’s doing I’ll use the exposure compensation dial).
I’m still trying to make mine take 5. Lmao. Plz help. Canon EOS 2000D
looks like that camera is only capable of doing up to 3 brackets 2 stops apart so you won't be able to do 5 automatically 😐
@@InsideRealEstatePhotography dang! Thanks for the reply! :)
the view isn't in focus I think right? do you MF?
The view out of the window? My concern is the interior of the room being if focus unless I'm taking a dedicated shot specifically to show the view then of course I would be making sure the view out of the window was in focus.