Taking the right image having a balanced of exposure, focus, and white balance is crucial. Applying the right kind of settings is entirely under the control of the photographer and this can influence how well the resultant image looks like.
There are several features in most professional cameras that can assist a photographer to obtain images with the perfect exposure and other crucial aspects. Bracketing is one such feature that lets the capture of multiple images of the same subject, each with variations in the settings.
It has several uses such as in getting the right kind of image while photographing a product or landscape. The multiple images produced for a bracketed image can immensely help in professional picture editing for selecting the right image to apply the postproduction techniques. The following are three types of bracketing used for obtaining the perfect shot.
Exposure Bracketing
With exposure bracketing, the camera can be set up to capture multiple shots each having a different exposure value. In most cameras, exposure bracketing allows the capture of three or five shots each having differences in exposure. In case of a three-shot exposure bracketing, the camera will take the subsequent shots with exposure values of one-step above the preceding shot.
A key reason why most photographers opt for exposure bracketing is due to the dynamic range. Three or more exposures of the same subject in different exposure values can be stitched together during professional picture editing to create a flawless high dynamic range image.
Focus Bracketing
Focus bracketing is similar to exposure bracketing with the different multiple exposures used to create images with sufficient depth of field and detail. Focus bracketing captures multiple shots of a subject each having variations in the focal points. In this, the focus will change with each shot while the exposure will remain constant throughout. Images captured using focus bracketing still requires extensive postproduction works to further enhance the image.
White Balance Bracketing
In white balance bracketing, multiple images are captured of a scene with different color temperatures. It is the same when compared to exposure and focus bracketing and only the white balance changes in each shot. White balance bracketing is used in situations where there is a combination of different kinds of light. In such cases, the auto white balance option in the camera will fail to recognize the right color temperature and this result in the wrong white balance.