Better Bracketing Could Help You Become a Better Photographer

Do you miss the days of slaving over a blindingly-bright light table reviewing miles of uncut negative filmstrips looking for that “perfect” shot? Yeah, me neither! Those, best-forgotten, days generally depicted images with hundreds of subtle variations in exposure, pose, and composition that would ultimately result in the best photograph from a hectic studio (or location) session. Thankfully, the digital photography workflow has come up with a better way to sample myriad photographic permutations of a subject.

Behold, Better Bracketing

Nestled inside the settings menu (i.e., alternatively, sometimes found in the Drive menu) of many digital cameras is an innocuous-sounding option commonly labeled as bracketing. In a nutshell, bracketing will fire off a series of photographs based on a preferred exposure option. These options, for example under the Drive menu of the Fujifilm X100 compact digital camera, are: AE (automatic exposure) bracket, ISO bracket, film simulation bracket, and dynamic range bracket. In each of these cases, the camera will make three exposures based on the selected bracketing option.

Using one or more of these bracketing options can be invaluable for ensuring that an important, “once-in-a-lifetime,” photograph is properly captured. Additionally, testing your camera’s bracketing options can help you determine a select group of ideal options for delivering your intended photographic result. Regardless, please study these bracketing results taken with a Fujifilm X100 compact digital camera from two different landscape subjects and judge for yourself on the merit of better bracketing.

Enjoy.

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