The best HDR camera setting for real estate bracketing photography

We all know that High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is an effective way to capture stunning images with a creative edge for your real estate photography services. However, not many people know how to best set up their HDR settings to produce images with a greater range of contrast and color.

But don’t worry – you’re in the right place! In this blog, we’ll walk you through how to adjust the right HDR camera settings for your HDR shots. With a few simple steps, you’ll be well on your way to capturing beautiful HDR photos. So, let’s get started! 

Why do we use HDR for real estate bracketing photography? 

The main goal of employing HDR in professional real estate photography is to ensure that the property appears appropriate to human eyes when seen via an HDR photo. A high dynamic range is a good method for photographers for a variety of other reasons apart from that. 

When taking interior images of areas with external vistas, it might be difficult to balance the highlights and the shadows. For example, multiple light sources could be present while shooting a bedroom with a window view. However, with HDR photography, you may keep the window light's curves while maintaining the bright colors of the space, making it more flexible for photo retouching later on.

In addition, unlike shooting with a single exposure, HDR helps avoid losing picture detail. Similarly to that, you may improve textures to make them sharper and more distinct. 

Finally, using both external and natural illumination simultaneously may often result in complicated lighting. An HDR composite picture may counter high contrast lighting in one shot, which is preferable to spending too much time altering your lighting and camera location. 

To learn more about why you should use HDR for your real estate photography, check out these two articles: 

Best HDR settings for your real estate photo 

1. Manual Exposure Bracketing Settings 

In high dynamic range, (HDR) photography, manual bracketing entails directly adjusting the shutter speed while observing how it affects EV. If your camera lacks AEB or isn't ideal for HDR, manual bracketing is one of the key reasons to utilize it.

You may use manual bracketing manually or automatically using Aperture Priority and +/-2 bracketing of your EV settings. Ideal aperture priority settings range from f.8 to f.11. For each final photograph, five exposures are advised. The dynamic range will then be sufficient for editing and post-production.

The detailed settings will go as follows: 

HDR camera settings 

With the appropriate f-number set in, you may choose between manual and aperture priority mode (we recommend f.8-f.11). The ISO setting should be as low as feasible, with 200 ISO serving as the baseline. If you must go higher, be careful to stay below ISO 400 unless necessary.

You should turn off your flash. Both manual and automatic focus mode options can be used. Manual focus can be used when you want greater discretion. If you need assistance in focus mode, you can utilize autofocus by switching to Single-Shot AF. Additionally, make sure that your anti-shake, noise reduction, review, driving mode, and metering mode are all off.  

Meter the shot

By partly pressing the shutter release button to receive a meter reading, you may utilize autofocus to get the first base focus. The camera displays the exposure settings as they are right now. If you're manually focusing, adjust the camera lens' focus ring as necessary and leave it in place. You should adjust the shutter speed for each bracket such that the EV meter displays -4.0, -2.0, 0.0, +2.0, and +4.0, accordingly.

Now, set the shutter speed to a value of -4.0 EV on the EV meter. Shoot the bracket with the under-exposure.

When shooting in manual mode, you are simultaneously focusing on the shutter speed and the EV index.

Check the shutter speed again to make sure it is quick enough for the scenario in the underexposed shot. For instance, if you're photographing rapidly moving clouds, a lower shutter speed may blur the image. Increase your ISO or aperture as necessary.

Next, set the shutter speed to a value of 2.0 EV on the EV meter. Select the next exposed bracket. When you fully meter your photo, you also slow down the shutter speed since this increases exposure because it allows more light to reach the sensor.

Set the shutter speed to 0.0 EV on the EV meter. Consider the central bracket. Perfect exposure to the central bracket is very beneficial. By doing this, you can take a nice shot at whether or not the HDR processing turns out well. Additionally, to increase the impression of realism, you may utilize this center bracket as a blending layer in software.

Shutter speed should be adjusted to +2.0 EV on the EV meter. Consider the exposed bracket. Again, the shutter speed should increase.

Set the shutter speed to a value of +4.0 EV on the EV meter. Consider the exposed bracket. This is the last sequence in the set between brackets. In this bracket, the majority of the highlighted regions will be entirely washed away, while the finer features of the photographs are accentuated.

If the shutter speeds are fast enough, you should be able to complete a five-exposure bracket quite quickly with practice. This implies that although some cloud movement may be avoided, not all of it.

2. Auto Exposure Bracketing Settings (AEB) 

By using Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB), you may take pictures without continually touching the camera. Manually adjusting the exposure between each photo might result in out-of-focus images. Even though this can be rectified in a number of picture editing software by lining up the frames, with AEB, we can prevent it from happening in the first place.

HDR camera setting 

Let's go through the various setup procedures for the camera in this section so that we can accurately assess the base exposure and have the settings we need.

First, the camera's settings for HDR photography should be set to RAW, as low an ISO as feasible, and with AEB turned on.

• For Nikon. 

For Nikon cameras, to check whether your settings are correct, go into Custom Setting Menu -> Bracketing/flash -> Auto bracketing set -> AE only. 

For this guide, we recommend you to shoot a bracket of 5 exposures with one stop of light difference (1EV). The parameters HDR photography should be set with a number of pictures = 5 and increment = 1 full stop of light.

On a Nikon, you need to push the bracket button on the front side of the body and set the parameters using the front and back dials. On a Nikon, we can check the AEB settings on the back monitor and the upper control panel display. Nikon cameras can make up to 9 different exposures in AEB mode. 

• For Canon. 

We will use the Canon EOS 60D model to demonstrate how you can utilize AEB since Canon has numerous models with various HDR settings. With the help of this function, bracketing photography is made simple. This technique is taking the same picture at several exposure levels in order to enhance the likelihood that the final image will be correctly exposed.

For Canon, you may adjust the brackets' distance from the exposure index's center using the Main dial. Select Shooting Menu 2 on the camera display in the settings, then highlight Expo. To set, press Comp./AEB.

To choose the degree of exposure change you desire between shots, turn the Main dial. The meter extends as soon as you turn the dial, providing you with a wide range of adjustability. On the meter, one stop is represented by each entire number. You can see how much of an exposure change there will be in each of the five images the camera takes by examining the little lines below the meter. A picture is represented by each bright line below the exposure meter.

You will take five shots when you see five distinct bright lines. The variation in exposure between each photo relates to how far away they are from one another. To get the exposure indications to represent the amount of change you desire between each bracketed photo, keep turning the dial.

Avoid attempting to adjust the AEB amount using the Quick Control dial or the multi-controller in place of the Main dial. If you do, the exposure compensation function is activated.

The exposure meter in the Shooting Settings display displays the five exposure indications when AEB is enabled to signify the exposure shift you set. In the viewfinder, the same marks are visible.

Whether you choose to set the Drive mode to Single or Continuous will affect how you capture your five exposures. Depending on the camera's drive mode, each time the shutter button is depressed, either a single picture or a series of photos will be captured.

• AEB in Single mode: To capture your series of exposures, fully press the shutter button five times while taking each exposure independently.

• AEB in Continuous mode: With only one click of the shutter, the camera captures each of the five exposures. Release the shutter, then push it once again to start a new series.

• Self-Timer/Remote modes: Just as in Continuous mode, all five exposures are captured with a single shutter release.

Simply return to Shooting Menu 2 or the Quick Control screen, use the Main dial to alter the AEB setting back to 0, and the auto exposure bracketing feature will be off.

Put the camera into aperture priority mode (A) 

Although the actual photography may be done in either M or A mode, starting off in aperture priority mode (A) will make it simple to determine the scene's base shutter speed.

After that, you may adjust the f-stop in accordance with the lighting and the required depth of focus for the scene in order to determine the base aperture. To maintain a nice depth of focus and to keep the longest shutter speed below 30 seconds in a low-light scenario, you may need to boost the ISO.

When using manual focus, turn the lens' focusing ring until the subject is plainly visible before locking the focus point onto it. If you're using autofocus, move the focus point to the scene's real subject and push the shutter halfway to lock in the focus.

By metering the image while maintaining focus and activating matrix metering, you may determine the shutter speed for the base exposure of the scene by halfway depressing the shutter. After doing this, turn off the AF (on the camera or lens).

Then, adjust the HDR settings by going to Manual Mode on the camera (M). You won't need to repeat all the earlier stages in this manner.

Set the first shutter speed 

Our camera should ideally be set to capture AEB exposures in the order of lowest exposure to greatest exposure. As a result, we will manually adjust the starting shutter speed to the required shutter speed of (-4.0 EV).  

Take the different exposure shots

When the AEB settings are adjusted, AEB is enabled, Autofocus is off, and the camera is in Manual Mode, all you have to do is press the shutter button once to trigger the camera's automated capture of all the images with various exposures.

Key Takeaway 

By now, you should be familiar with how to use HDR camera setting mode for your camera for real estate bracketing photography. It is an effective way for real estate photographers to capture stunning images with a creative edge.

With HDR, you can combine several exposures to create an image with a greater range of contrast and color. After you’ve used AEB in your real estate photography, you can further explore HDR. There are a lot of different ways to use it and great results can come from experimenting with different HDR settings and post-production software.