Manual exposure bracketing step-by-step

If you’re struggling to get well-exposed images in mixed light, try these simple exposure bracketing techniques to help preserve shadow and highlight detail. In this post we show you how to bracket both manually and using your cameras Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) feature.

Exposure bracketing step-by-step: step 1
Bracket manually
Select Manual (M) mode, compose the shot and set the aperture to f/16. To take an exposure reading, use the Average/Evaluative metering mode and then align the indicator bar with the centre mark or ‘0’ on the exposure indicator scale.
Exposure bracketing step-by-step: step 2
Adjust the shutter speed

Take the first shot using the settings the camera has calculated to be correct. With the same aperture, manually change the shutter speed so the indicator bar is aligned with +1 on the scale and take the shot. Do the same with the indicator aligned with -1.
Exposure bracketing step-by-step: step 3
Tweaking the technique
If the lighting is more extreme (or for an HDR image) take two further shots at +2 and -2. Conversely, if you wish to only alter the exposure by a small amount, take three shots at 0, +0.5 and -0.5. You can chose 0, +1 and +2 if you only want to brighten the shot.
Read next: How to use auto exposure bracket in your camera.

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