Exposure Bracketing

Exposure bracketing is a simple technique professional photographers use to ensure they properly expose their pictures, especially in challenging lighting situations. When you expose for a scene, your camera’s light meter will select an aperture / shutter speed combination that it believes will give a properly exposed picture. Exposure bracketing means that you take two more pictures: one slightly under-exposed (usually by dialing in a negative exposure compensation, say -1/3EV), and the second one slightly over-exposed (usually by dialing in a positive exposure compensation, say +1/3EV), again according to your camera’s light meter.

For my tests, I chose a familiar subject, Mother Brook and added some shots of the dam at Stone Mill.

https://realrealityproductions.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/stone-mill-mother-brook-dedham-ma/

I chose an auto exposure bracketing setting of 2/3, which produces an image of normal(0)EV, +2/3(+.7)EV and -2/3(-.7) EV. All these images are jpgs and have been shot large. I also shoot raw.  I’m looking for a certain balance of grays and a deeper black from my black and white images.  lb

Note: One thing that I never really thought about, with respect to auto exposure bracketing is how the images are shot by the camera (i.e. were three separates images with three different exposure settings produced or did the camera use the same image and somehow produce different exposure settings with the data from the one image, three times?). The camera produces three separate images which are three different moments in time. The image differences are indistinguishable in a static scene but not in a scene with movement. You can see this with the snowflakes in the second series of shots.

Example #1

It was a clear, sunny day. This set of three images below is a good example of what you can expect in good light from the Xpro1 when bracketing is set as mentioned above.

Fuji XPro1 18mm(27mm equiv.) f/13 @ 1/420s 0EV

Fuji XPro1 18mm(27mm equiv.) f/10 @ 1/420s +0.7EV

Fuji XPro1 18mm(27mm equiv.) f/16 @ 1/420s -0.7EV

Example #2

It was a gray, snowy day for this set of three images.

Fuji XPro1 18mm(27mm equiv.) 0EV

Fuji XPro1 18mm(27mm equiv.) +.7EV

Fuji XPro1 18mm(27mm equiv.) -.7EV

More images to come from the mill complex and dam.

 

All rights reserved © 2018 Leo F. Brady

The Fourth Privilege – Stone Mill at Mother Brook, Dedham, MA.

The Fourth Privilege – Stone Mill and Dam at Mother Brook, Dedham, MA.

The Fourth Privilege is the fourth mill and damn built on Mother Brook. It’s fed by the Charles River. The Mill is now condominiums. You can’t see the damn from this angle but it’s on the left.

More Info: 

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMDRPB_1639_History_of_Mother_Brook_2009_Dedham_MA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Brook#Fourth_privilege_2

 

Centennial Dam and Stone Mill | Dedham MA. | L Brady

It’s been a while since I went out on a snowy, rainy day to shoot these. Spring has begun. The original  idea was to demonstrate exposure bracketing but as always, I learn much more. I shot three (3) sets of images, in the bracket, and chose to edit the +.7 EV set, using preview to adjust exposure, contrast and sharpness. For some reason, I found it easier to work up from dark to light. I could have also worked effectively with the 0.7 EV set but the -.7 were too bright.

Today, many filmmakers shoot digital with the most neutral camera settings to allow a wide editing latitude in post. I’m sure professional photographers do this as well.

All these shots were taken with an Xpro1 and 18mm lens. I was a snowy, rainy day, as you can see, and you will actually see snowflakes, rain and the like in the images. lb

Note: click on the images for a more detailed view

A Little History…

Mother Brook, dug through from the Charles River to East Brook in 1637, provided a connection with the Neponset River and a source of waterpower for the town’s all-important corn mill. In subsequent generations, that same waterway provided power to roll copper for American coins, to make paper (in three different mills), to support a brush factory and a wire factory, and to run the first water-driven broad powered loom in the entire world. These industries, combined with other enterprises around the town, gave a tremendous economic impetus to Dedham. By 1845, the town’s manufactories employed over 650 people, and produced such varied goods as cotton, cotton thread, woolens, silk, brooms, furnaces, shovels and hoes, paper, chairs and cabinets, tin ware, sheet iron, vehicles, boots, shoes, saddles and harnesses, cigars, pocket notebooks, and marbled papers. http://dedhamhistorical.org/history/

Centennial Dam
This dam was originally constructed to provide water power to textile mills built at this site. This location was the fourth of five “privileges” (locations where dams could be built) along Mother Brook in Dedham, MA, first designated in Colonial times. Mother Brook connects to and drains the Charles River and empties into the Neponset River. A plaque mounted on the dam indicates that the current structure was built in 1894 and rebuilt in 1994. Earlier structures provided power for mills at this site since the early 1800s (and possibly earlier).
This is an embankment dam, with a spillway constructed of concrete with some stone and brick in the side walls. It is approximately 15 feet high.
Fishing is done in the adjacent brook and pond, but signs in the area advise against eating certain types of fish due to PCB contamination.
Canoes or kayaks are rarely or ever used in the area because of limited water depth and limited practical travel distances.
The dam is adjacent to and effectively enclosed by property of the Mother Brook Condominium Association, a group of 86 residential condominiums. Several of the condo buildings were converted from mill buildings, in 1986-87.http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMCY57_Centennial_Dam_Dedham_MA_USA

Stone Mill
When built in 1835 for the Norfolk Manufacturing Co., this mill was powered by the adjacent Mother Brook flowing over what is now called “Centennial Dam.” It was initially used to manufacture cotton. The building was expanded by Mr. Thomas Barrows in approximately 1865-1870 and used to manufacture wool. It was sold to Merchants Woolen CO. in 1872, to Royal and Frederick Storrs in 1875, and again to Merchants Woolen Co. in 1882. In 1894 it was sold to Cochrane Manufacturing Co. and used to make carpets. At some unknown point, a steam plant was added, remnants of which remain in the basement of the building.
This mill is located at the fourth of five “privileges” along Mother Brook in Dedham where dams and mills were erected, beginning in Colonial times.
This building is now part of the Mother Brook Condominiums. It was converted to condos in 1987 along with several other former mill buildings on this site. http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMCYJN_Water_mill_former_Cochrane_Manufacturing_Co_carpet_mill_Dedham_MA

And for you guys and gals that must have a little color in your lives ;-).

Exposure Bracketing | return to Mother Brook | Leo Brady

Exposure bracketing is a simple technique professional photographers use to ensure they properly expose their pictures, especially in challenging lighting situations. When you expose for a scene, your camera’s light meter will select an aperture / shutter speed combination that it believes will give a properly exposed picture. Exposure bracketing means that you take two more pictures: one slightly under-exposed (usually by dialing in a negative exposure compensation, say -1/3EV), and the second one slightly over-exposed (usually by dialing in a positive exposure compensation, say +1/3EV), again according to your camera’s light meter.More at http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_exposureBracketing.html

The above link is an excellent tutorial for those interested in learning more about and exploring the technique further.

For my tests, I chose a familiar subject, Mother Brook and added some shots of the dam at Stone Mill. https://realrealityproductions.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/stone-mill-mother-brook-dedham-ma/
I chose an auto exposure bracketing setting of 2/3, which produces an image of normal(0)EV, +2/3(+.7)EV and -2/3(-.7) EV. All these images are jpgs and have been shot large. I also shoot raw.  I’m looking for a certain balance of grays and a deeper black from my black and white images.  lb

Note: One thing that I never really thought about, with respect to auto exposure bracketing is how the images are shot by the camera (i.e. were three separates images with three different exposure settings produced or did the camera use the same image and somehow produce different exposure settings with the data from the one image, three times?). The camera produces three separate images which are three different moments in time. The image differences are indistinguishable in a static scene but not in a scene with movement. You can see this with the snowflakes in the second series of shots.

Example #1

It was a clear, sunny day. This set of three images below is a good example of what you can expect in good light from the Xpro1 when bracketing is set as mentioned above.

Fuji XPro1 18mm(27mm equiv.) f/13 @ 1/420s 0EV

Fuji XPro1 18mm(27mm equiv.) f/10 @ 1/420s +0.7EV

Fuji XPro1 18mm(27mm equiv.) f/16 @ 1/420s -0.7EV

Example #2

It was a gray, snowy day for this set of three images.

Fuji XPro1 18mm(27mm equiv.) 0EV

Fuji XPro1 18mm(27mm equiv.) +.7EV

Fuji XPro1 18mm(27mm equiv.) -.7EV

More images to come from the mill complex and dam.

Stone Mill & Mother Brook, Dedham MA | L Brady

Fuji XPro1 18mm (27mm equiv.) lens F11 1/420 ISO 200 in B/W Mode *basic cleanup mods

Fuji XPro1 18mm (27mm equiv.) lens F11 1/350 ISO 200 in B/W Mode *basic cleanup mods

Fuji XPro1 18mm (27mm equiv.) lens F11 1/420 ISO 200 in B/W Mode cropped from above, *basic cleanup mods

In Boston and the surrounding communities, many of the old mills still exist but have been converted. This is Stone Mill and Mother Brook.

All images here are shot with a Fuji XPro1 and an 18mm (27mm equiv.) lens in B/W Mode, large, high quality jpgs

*basic cleanup mods – I typically just use Preview to adjust exposure, contrast and sharpness if required. I’d like to start using bracketing more to eliminate even that but…