Bracketing in Photography
– Tackling Difficult Lighting.
Photographing a lively city scene at night can be as challenging as it is exciting. The balance of light and shadow often varies dramatically, making it difficult to capture a well-exposed image in a single shot. If you can’t achieve a good exposure setting, this is where bracketing becomes a powerful tool, helping to capture detail throughout the frame, even in high-contrast scenes.
In this article, I’ll show you how I used bracketing to capture a night shot of the Tarrant County Courthouse from Sundance Square in Fort Worth. By understanding these techniques, you can gain more control over exposure and composition to create balanced, visually engaging photos.
The Challenges of Night Photography: Exposure and Composition
Urban night scenes come with unique challenges. They’re often high in contrast, with some parts of the scene brightly lit (such as neon signs, street lamps, and lit windows) and others in deep shadow. A single exposure can’t always capture both ends of the light spectrum effectively. Either the bright areas appear “blown out” with loss of detail, or the darker areas are too shadowed to show much at all.
For my shot of the Tarrant County Courthouse, I faced several exposure challenges. This area of downtown Fort Worth had a variety of light sources: glowing street lamps, neon signs, and even clock faces. Without proper exposure balancing, it would be impossible to capture each element with enough detail. And, as we’ll see, I wanted to use composition techniques to lead the viewer’s eye directly to the courthouse. To achieve this, I combined bracketing to balance exposure and perspective compression to enhance the composition.
What is Bracketing, and Why Does It Help in Night Photography?
Bracketing is a feature on most modern mirrorless cameras that allows you to take multiple photos of the same scene at different exposure levels. When you use bracketing, the camera captures multiple versions of the scene, each at a different exposure setting. These images can then be merged to create one balanced photo that preserves detail in both bright and dark areas. In night scenes, this is invaluable.
For this shot, I set up my camera to take a series of three bracketed images:
- The underexposed shot (-2 stops) to capture detail in the brightest parts of the scene, like the clock faces and neon signs.
- The balanced shot (at my chosen exposure) to cover the mid-tones in the scene, bringing out most of the details.
- The overexposed shot (+2 stops) to reveal shadowed details, particularly in darker areas of the street and buildings.
How Bracketing Worked for This Shot
In this specific composition, the courthouse had a brightly lit clock, and the surrounding area had neon signs and street lamps that were much brighter than the rest of the scene. Without bracketing, these lights would have appeared as bright, featureless blobs. By combining the underexposed, balanced, and overexposed shots later in post-processing, I was able to keep each light source controlled and each shadow well-defined. Bracketing allowed me to create an image that captured the full range of light in the scene without sacrificing details in any area.
Setting Up for Composition: The Use of Perspective Compression
Beyond exposure, composition was a key part of my approach for this shot. To make the courthouse appear larger and more dominant, I used a technique known as perspective compression. This is a compositional effect that occurs when you photograph a scene from a distance with a telephoto lens (or longer focal length). By doing so, elements in the background appear closer to the foreground and larger than they would with a shorter focal length. This compresses the visual depth, making distant objects look nearer and bringing the background elements into more prominent focus.
In this case, I used an 85mm lens from across Sundance Square to capture the scene. This focal length provided the perspective compression I was looking for, making the courthouse appear larger and closer to the viewer. The courthouse appears more commanding, and the street leading up to it has a stronger visual presence.
To better understand this effect, look at the image here, taken closer to the courthouse with a shorter focal length. Even though it was taken closer to the building, the courthouse appears smaller and further away. Using perspective compression from a distance with the 85mm lens allowed me to magnify the courthouse’s presence, making for a more dynamic composition.
Setting Up for the Shot: Combining Bracketing and Perspective Compression
With my camera and composition set up, I knew that I needed to carefully balance exposure, frame the scene with perspective compression, and manage other factors such as moving people and cars. Here’s how I approached each aspect:
Composing the Scene: After deciding to use perspective compression, I set my 85mm f/1.8 lens on a tripod across Sundance Square. This allowed me to capture the courthouse in a way that highlighted its size and prominence in the composition. I carefully adjusted the composition to ensure the street would lead directly to the courthouse, drawing the viewer’s eye naturally toward it.
Using Bracketing for Exposure Balance: With my exposure set to +0.3, I enabled bracketing to take three images: one underexposed by -2 stops, one at my set exposure (+0.3), and one overexposed by +2 stops. This setup helped capture details in both the highlights (such as the clocks and neon lights) and the shadows. I also took one additional shot at -4.7 to further preserve the brightest details.
Waiting for the Right Moment: Sundance Square is a busy place with constant foot traffic and passing cars. I also wanted the traffic lights to be red, as it complemented the other colors in the scene. I waited patiently for brief moments when the lights were red and the area had minimal movement. Then, I captured the bracketed images in quick succession.
The Final Image: Blending and Post-Processing
Once I had my series of images, I brought them into post-processing to create the final composition. Here’s how I blended the images for a balanced and vibrant result:
- Merging Bracketed Shots: By layering the underexposed, balanced, and overexposed images, I could bring out detail in both the lights and shadows without losing any visual information. Each bracketed image contributed unique elements to the overall photo.
- Fine-Tuning the Composition: Perspective compression allowed me to achieve the sense of depth and prominence I wanted. The courthouse appeared strong and close, while the road led directly toward it, drawing attention to the building and creating a sense of depth.
- Removing Distractions: Since the shots were taken quickly, I only had a few distractions to edit out, like a person and two cars. I chose to leave an old truck in the scene as it added character and suited the composition’s style. Plus, that parked truck wasn’t going anywhere. I know. I waited. 🙂
The Power of Bracketing and Perspective Compression
The final image was a richly detailed night scene that balanced exposure and composition in a way that would have been challenging to achieve, if not impossible, with a single shot. Bracketing allowed me to capture the full range of light in the scene, while perspective compression helped enhance the courthouse’s presence and bring the viewer’s focus right into the scene.
For those situations where balanced exposure is hard to achieve with a single photograph, such as night shots, bracketing can transform difficult scenes into beautifully composed and balanced images. By understanding and applying bracketing, you’ll be well-equipped to tackle even the most complex lighting and compositional challenges in your photos.
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