hdr, bracket question

[thomas_m_duffy]

<p>HI guys Im pretty new to lightroom. I have LR3 and I love it! Im also just learning about HDR. I plan on practicing using the technique for overall exposure balance in my photos only, not for artsy stuff. So question:</p>

<p> I noticed lightroom 3 can easily change the exposure of my raw files. So, why should I bother shooting bracketed shots when I can just "create" two other exposure settings in the software? <br>

Or am I being a silly digital rookie?</p>

<p>I also learned on this forum why the LR capture does not match the lcd camera preview. So if I choose to shoot brackets should I set the camera to raw+jpeg? Now I have six files to manage? <br>

thanks</p>

<p>also sry if this topic came up before I did do a search.</p>

<p>Tom</p>

[horace_t]

<p>Tom,<br>

I think the answer to your first question is that while you do have a forgiving exposure latitude for each picture, you haven't gained as much detail at either end of that latitude as if you exposed correctly for the different ranges initially.</p>

[thomas_m_duffy]

<p>I figured as such. Of course I haven't experimented yet either</p>

<p>Thanks Horace</p>

[scott_ferris]

The number of shots you need depends on the dynamic range within the image. This is a good article that illustrates

different situations and the number of shots needed.

http://beforethecoffee.com/bracketing-number-of-images/

[thomas_m_duffy]

<p>Great link Scott! thank you very much! </p>

[andreas_weber]

<p>If that one raw file contains all the information / dynamic range you want (i.e. neither blown highlights nor shadows blocked beyond recovery) you don't need to develop separate files with "different exposure". If shadows and/or highlights can't be recovered from the source file in Lightroom you won't get the missing information from the intermediate files either ...</p>

[thomas_m_duffy]

<p>Thanks Andreas, makes sense.</p>