I have an assignment for school that I can't quite grasp. I am supposed to expose 14 total images of 2 different scenes and use bracketing on MANUAL mode. The 1st part of the assignment is supposed to be exposed as follows:Aperture Half (1st part)-1: 1/25 @ f29-.7: 1/25 @ f25-.3: 1/25 @ f22MIE: 1/25 @ f20+.3: 1/25 @ f18+.7: 1/25 @ f16+1: 1/25 @ f14 AND the 2nd part:Shutter Half (2nd part)-1: 1/800 @ f10-.7: 1/640 @ f10-.3: 1/500 @ f10MIE: 1/400 @ f10+.3: 1/320 @ f10+.7: 1/250 @ f10+1: 1/200 @ f10Now, I am not asking for anyone to do it for me. I don't understand how to do get these settings on MANUAL mode and these must be shot in MANUAL mode. I have never used bracketing before, so I am a little confused on that too. Everything that I have found tells me how to do this using AUTO settings. So, any help would be great.
Bracketing just means shooting a scene at a range of exposures, a technique used when you're not quite sure what the best exposure is. All you have to do is set the camera to the specified exposures and shoot. Your camera will also do automatic bracketing for you, but that's not the point of this exercise.
I think you are making it more complex in your mind than it is. Simply set your camera to manual mode and take a total of 7 photos for each part using the exposures defined. You may find it ieasier to use a tripod so you get identical framing for each shot. Start of by taking a shot at 1/25th F/29 adjust the aperture by 1/3 stop and take the next at 1/25th F/25 adjust the aperture by 1/3 stop and take the next at 1/25th F/22 etc etc You will have to set your lens zoom to 55mm (assuming you have the standard kit lens) or you won't be able to close it down to F/29 (eg at 18mm the smallest is F/22) The concept of Bracketing is that you take a series of shots of the same subject at slightly different exposures so you get exactly the right exposure. In the first part you are adjusting the exposure in 1/3rd stops around the optimum value by adjusting aperture and in the second by adjusting shutter speed. NB if your T3 is like my 450D you have an option in the menus to adjust exposure in half or third stop increments. You need to have it set to third stop increments for this exercise - that is the factory setting so it should be OK unless you have changed it.
Read the instructions that came with your camera. They tell you very clearly how to change aperture and shutter speed in manual mode. Wow, you don't understand at all do you? When you set the camera up to bracket in auto mode the camera automatically adjusts aperture or shutter speed to increase or decrease exposure. When in manual mode, you accomplish the same thing by changing aperture or shutter speed yourself. All bracketing is, auto mode or manual mode, is just increasing or decreasing exposure. Duh.
Many photographers use a strategy called bracketing to ensure that at least one shot of a subject is properly exposed. They shoot the same subject multiple times, slightly varying the exposure settings for each image. To make bracketing easy, your Canon Rebel T3 or T3i offers automatic exposure bracketing (AEB). When you enable this feature, your only job is to press the shutter button to record the shots; the camera automatically adjusts the exposure settings between each image. Exposure mode: AEB is available only in the P, Tv, Av, M, and A-DEP exposure modes. Flash: AEB isn’t available when you use flash. You can still bracket your shots — you just have to change the exposure settings between frames yourself. Bracketing amount: You can request an exposure change of up to two stops from the auto bracketing system. Exposure Compensation: You can combine AEB with Exposure Compensation if you want. The camera simply applies the compensation amount when it calculates the exposure for the three bracketed images. Auto Lighting Optimizer: Because that feature is designed to automatically adjust images that are underexposed or lacking in contrast, it can render AEB ineffective. So it’s best to disable the feature when bracketing.
