Bracketing

Even if you are pretty good at a foreign languag, there comes a point when you find a word used in a specific way you can't find a decent translation or explanation for.

Could someone please give me an explanation of the word "bracket" in the photo usage like "bracketing before the shot" or "you should bracket 5 f-stops" etc.

Thanks Simon

Underexpose and then overexpose the stated number of stops. OR, overexpose and underexpose in the range of the stated number of stops. It's a little ambiguous, I think.

If someone told me to bracket by a stop, I would shoot one photo underexposed by one stop, one photo "properly" exposed, and one photo overexposed by one stop.

If someone told me to "bracket 5 f-stops," I'd probably just shoot everything between -5 e.v. and +5 e.v. in 1/2 stop increments.

Most SLRs can automatically "bracket" by exposure. For example, you set the camera to bracket by 1/2 stop, and it will take three successive photos, with corresponding exposure values. Bracketing becomes even more complicated nowadays because the newest cameras can do white-balance bracketing (by color temperature) and ISO bracketing (shooting on either side of what you have set the camera for).

Thanks Eric!

Now I also now what AEB stand for on my Camera (I knew allready what it did but not what the acronym stands for ;-) ) I assume: Automatic Exposure Bracketing. Am I right?

How much do you use it underwater and especially nowadays when I can do it later in the Raw converter.

Simon

You ARE right.

I never use it underwater, because I shoot exclusively manual. It's better to get a different exposure in its own frame than to do it in RAW converter, but in a pinch, I guess you can do it post-processing.

Bracketing is highly recommended in order to get the proper exposure. Sometimes your meter may not give you the exact results you want from a scene.

I don't know what bracketing 5 stops means. With a film camera that automatically meters a scene, I would normally bracket + and - 2/3 of a stop. There is not much point to bracketing further ranges unless you have no idea what the best exposure should be.

This is all done while shooting in manual mode. You cannot bracket in any priority/program mode because it will just give you the same exposure, only with a different shutter/aperture combo.

I still bracket with the DSLR, but to a lesser extent because I can now view the histogram on the camera.

I never used the automatic bracketing on any camera, nor have I bracketed underwater while using film. That would reduce my roll from 36 shots to 12 shots taken 3 times each.