What does bracketing mean?

Answer 1

what mason said, generally you make three exposures one "correct" and and one over and one underexposed, you can do it by a stop or half stops.

there are variations on the one correct and one over one under method

sometimes one may make one exposure "correct" and 2 or more over or under not both, its a safty method for ensuring at least one good exposure is made,

the better one becomes with exposure no matter what the light/lighting/subject et cetera the less they need bracking or safty nets, if one reads the light where they want true exposure and manually sets the camera to that exposure they will have texture in the whites and blacks and vivid bright images

a

Answer 2

Bracketing is mostly for amateurs.
In the conventional sense it is shooting pictures at multiple exposure levels to hopefully get the right exposure.

It was used for people that shot film that did not know how to get a proper exposure, so they shot 3 to 5 times as much film to hopefully get the right exposure. Usually they shot where they thought the proper exposure should be then shot the picture both under and over exposed.
I always had a problem with this. Say for example you are taking a picture of a model. That means when you processed your film that 2/3 of your pictures had to be thrown out because they weren't properly exposed.
It is easier just to learn how to get a correct exposure.

Now there are instances where there is no correct exposure. It become an interpretative, or abstract call on what the correct exposure will be. In this instance the go for it.

Now some say with the advent of digital bracketing is longer necessary.. Now this is just the opposite. Since you cannot manipulates the picture in the processing sometimes bracketing is an option in high contrast subjects. If you have the camera on a tripod you can expose for the shadows and then expose for the highlights. Then in post production using photoshop layers it is easy to take the best and meld the pictures together.

Answer 3

Just to add to what's already been said.

The most common reason I bracket is for night shots. When bracketing you are generally keeping either the shutter speed or the aperture constant, then changing the other factor. I tend to keep the aperture constant and vary shutter speed on night shots. The reason for this is to keep depth of field constant. That being said, I might take a set of shots at a few apertures as well.

My thought process in taking a LOT of shots is that....

"I'm here, it may be awhile before I'm ever here again (if ever), so I shoot the heck out of this scene so I have a lot of choices".

Even if I take 100 shots and walk away with one good one I'm happy. More then just getting the right exposure, night shots can look very different at different shutter speeds and apertures. It's more then just correcting exposure in post-processing, it's all about a totally different look.

It's always best to get it right in the camera. Bracketing helps you do that on tough situations.

Answer 4

Bracketing is when you take multiple exposures of the same image - usually three but can be more. The first exposure is the "correct" exposure and the other exposures are underexposed and overexposed usually by a stop each. This is to ensure you get the right exposure if you're not sure. For example, if you shoot an image at what you think is the correct exposure and it turns out to be overexposed by a stop, then the "underexposed" image is the one that is correctly exposed.

Answer 5

Bracketing simply means shooting the same scene one stop above and one stop below the optimum setting for the scene.

If you are using a 35mm SLR, or an SLR Digital, and you have the ability to manipulate your settings in the manual mode, this is a snap.

Say your optimum f-stop for the scene is f16, then shoot the same scene at f11, f16 and f22.

That's bracketing.

Answer 6

Changing the lens opening between shots so that if the meter or metering suggests f:5.6 then photos might be shot at f:4.0, 5.6 and 7.2. Thus the images collect a range of results - the larger lens opening goes deeper in the shadows while the smaller one picks up details in the highlights. In a film camera, the photographer judges which mix is the best to use. I just read that new equipment takes bracketing digital shots and uses the best parts of all of them to produce an extended range image.