{"id":5787,"date":"2013-01-12T22:53:10","date_gmt":"2013-01-12T11:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alexwisephotography.net\/blog\/?p=5787"},"modified":"2017-01-28T10:20:27","modified_gmt":"2017-01-27T23:20:27","slug":"automatic-exposure-bracketing-aeb-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alexwisephotography.net\/blog\/2013\/01\/12\/automatic-exposure-bracketing-aeb-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently a friend<\/a> purchased his first DSLR camera and we’ve been getting out doing some shooting around Melbourne and Tasmania (where he’s based). Helping someone starting out with photography has been rewarding as I’ve been able to show him the things that I wish I knew when I was starting out with photography which has forced me to go back and read up on things. The little things like explaining the various camera filters and learning about features on your camera that you didn’t know were there. One of these features is the Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) feature. As cameras have advanced, the AEB feature comes standard with most cameras now days. This guide is more so written for Canon cameras<\/a> but the logic can easily be applied to other brands.<\/p>\n

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What is the Automatic Exposure Bracketing Tool?<\/h2>\n

The AEB tool allows you to automate the process of taking multiple exposures of a scene. Rather than take a photo, adjust the exposure and then press the shutter again, AEB allows you to automatically expose the scene  once you press the shutter button. Some describe this as in camera HDR as the shots can then be stacked and converted into a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image or manually blended. Using this feature will give you one over exposed image (+1 EV), one under exposed (-1 EV) and a normal exposed image (0 EV). How much the camera over or under exposes can be changed within the camera so it is possible to over expose by 2 stops (+2 EV) and under expose by 2 stops (-2 EV) if you wish.<\/p>\n

Why is automatic exposures useful? Manually adjusting the exposure between each individual shot can misalign your images from constantly changing the exposure and pressing the button each time. Sure this can be fixed in Photoshop by aligning your images but why not get it right and avoid this issue?<\/p>\n

I must be honest and tell you that I don’t really use the automatic exposure bracketing feature on my camera much. Instead if bracketing for a scene I’ll manually take exposures for different parts of the scene (i.e. an exposure for the sky, land and any specific parts of the scene which the camera is having difficulty capturing in one exposure). But for my friend learning about photography and his new camera, it’s a useful feature to know about especially when you’re still having difficulty exposing your images and getting it right in camera.<\/p>\n

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\"Firstly
Firstly enable the shutter delay on your camera. For this photo I’m using a 2 second delay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How to use the Automatic Exposure Bracketing on your Camera?<\/h2>\n

The AEB feature can vary between camera brands and models but fortunately the feature is available in most modern DSLR and high-end point and shoot cameras. For the purpose of this tutorial I’m using a Canon 5D Mark II to demonstrate how to enable and use the automatic exposure bracketing tool but if you own a Nikon D90 or Canon 60D, it shouldn’t vary much between the models. The principle it still the same and it might just require different steps along the way. I’ve tried to compile a few different step by step processes if you’re using a different make or model to what I’m using.<\/p>\n

\"Select
Select the Exposure comp\/AEB Setting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n