Laddad
Posts: 83
Location: Kinston, NC, United States
Registered: 9 Jun 2009
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How do you meter your 360 degree panoramas?
Posted: 6 Feb 2012 at 3:10 GMT
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Presently I use a Sekonic L758DR light meter. Mostly I use it in the Spot mode and take multiple readings and use the average. In less contrasty situations I take incident readings. Most often I'm on the money, some times I'm off.
I am curious to hear from others about their technique. How do you determine exposure, especially in contrasty difficult scenes?
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DennisS
Posts: 1292
Location: Los Anglels, United States
Registered: 1 Sep 2007
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Re: How do you meter your 360 degree panoramas?
Posted: 6 Feb 2012 at 4:43 GMT
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Shoot RAW, expose properly for the brightest part of the scene, bring up the shadows during conversion.
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vrclicks
Posts: 5
Location: Los Angeles, United States
Registered: 7 Jan 2008
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Re: How do you meter your 360 degree panoramas?
Posted: 6 Feb 2012 at 5:17 GMT
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I leave all my settings on manual. Meter for the subject.
However, I have read that some people bracket every shot.
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Laddad
Posts: 83
Location: Kinston, NC, United States
Registered: 9 Jun 2009
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Re: How do you meter your 360 degree panoramas?
Posted: 6 Feb 2012 at 11:27 GMT
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I shoot in raw and bracket for HDR. I establish a set exposure with brackets keep the same for the entire 360 degree shoot. I have never heard of varying the exposure on each position. I would think that would make stitching more difficult and blending problematic. Regardless I want input from everyone. Ho do you do it?
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DennisS
Posts: 1292
Location: Los Anglels, United States
Registered: 1 Sep 2007
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Re: How do you meter your 360 degree panoramas?
Posted: 6 Feb 2012 at 12:30 GMT
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You do not vary the exposure. You properly expose for the brightest area of the entire panorama, then lock the exposure.
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Laddad
Posts: 83
Location: Kinston, NC, United States
Registered: 9 Jun 2009
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Re: How do you meter your 360 degree panoramas?
Posted: 6 Feb 2012 at 13:53 GMT
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I agree with you Dennis. I most often metter on the brighter areas and I never vary the the exposure except for the brackets. Vvclicks seemed to indicate that some vary the exposure. I do not!
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DennisS
Posts: 1292
Location: Los Anglels, United States
Registered: 1 Sep 2007
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Re: How do you meter your 360 degree panoramas?
Posted: 6 Feb 2012 at 14:15 GMT
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Then you are doing it properly. With bracketed RAW images, you should not have issues with exposure. You have plenty of material to work with.
I wish I shot raw from the very beginning. There are many panoramas I would love to go back and correct, but cannot. Same with family pictures. I wish I discovered RAW early on.
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Jay Ploss
Posts: 5
Location: Canada
Registered: 21 Feb 2012
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Re: How do you meter your 360 degree panoramas?
Posted: 21 Feb 2012 at 1:28 GMT
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I know this thread is a bit old, but I've got a related question:
I've been metering for the brightest part of my scene, and then using a +1/-1 3 exposure bracket to help round out the exposures elsewhere. The -1 exposure seems a bit wasted though, if it's going to be too dark nearly everywhere else in my scene.
I was thinking of metering a bit below my brightest area instead, just so that the exposure bracket captures more of the true dynamic range of the scene.
Thoughts?
Jay
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Judy-A
Posts: 525
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Registered: 20 Jan 2010
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Re: How do you meter your 360 degree panoramas?
Posted: 21 Feb 2012 at 16:48 GMT
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Jay Ploss said:
I've been metering for the brightest part of my scene, and then using a +1/-1 3 exposure bracket to help round out the exposures elsewhere. The -1 exposure seems a bit wasted though, if it's going to be too dark nearly everywhere else in my scene.
I found this tutorial to be helpful in learning how to meter and bracket.
beforethecoffee.com/bracketing-number-of-images/
Judy
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Gary Davies
Posts: 70
Location: Portsmouth, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Registered: 1 May 2009
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Re: How do you meter your 360 degree panoramas?
Posted: 21 Feb 2012 at 19:25 GMT
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Shooting in RAW, I look around the scene with matrix metering for a good compromise and, if not bracketing, rely on the data captured to tweak the highlights or shadows as required.
Just as an aside, I've read a number of books on HDR shooting and the above by Ferrell McCollough is easily the best.
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Jay Ploss
Posts: 5
Location: Canada
Registered: 21 Feb 2012
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Re: How do you meter your 360 degree panoramas?
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 at 1:17 GMT
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Wow. Are you guys ever helpful!
I've only scanned the article and I can already tell I'm going to love it. Long live the internet.
Thanks a lot, Judy
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Jay Ploss
Posts: 5
Location: Canada
Registered: 21 Feb 2012
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Re: How do you meter your 360 degree panoramas?
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 at 1:39 GMT
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Great stuff on appropriate bracketing. Too bad not all of my cameras can cover more than +/- 1.
Unfortunately for me, because he's capturing such a huge dynamic range (10eV) he doesn't spend much time talking about how to meter the scene. If I've only got +/- 0.7 eV (Sony NEX 5n, ridiculous!), I've got to be pretty choosy.
Cheers,
Jay
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Jay Ploss
Posts: 5
Location: Canada
Registered: 21 Feb 2012
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Re: How do you meter your 360 degree panoramas?
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 at 1:41 GMT
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I'll try that out, Gary. I usually use spot metering because I like to work out the compromises myself, but your technique may be more reliable and a time-saver as well.
Cheers,
Jay
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