3. Still holding down the bracketing setting button, rotate the main dial until the 3F
setting is made. This will take a total of three exposures, one at the metered expo-
sure, one 1 stop under, and one 1 stop over.
4. Rotate the release mode dial to one of the continuous shooting modes. This will
ensure that all three bracketed shots are taken consecutively once you’ve triggered
the shutter with the remote release.
5. Set the D7000 to S (Shutter-priority). This forces the D7000 to bracket the expo-
sures by changing the shutter speed. You don’t want the bracketed exposures to have
different aperture settings, because the depth-of-field will change, perhaps enough
to disturb a smooth merger of the final shots.
6. Hold down the QUAL button and choose RAW exposures. You’ll need RAW files
to give you the 16-bit high dynamic range images that the Merge to HDR feature
processes best.
7. Manually focus or autofocus the D7000.
8. Trigger the remote release to take all the exposures in the bracketed set. Repeat if
you like.
9. Copy your images to your computer and continue with the Merge to HDR steps
listed next.
The next steps show you how to combine the separate exposures into one merged high
dynamic range image. The sample images in Figure 4.16 show the results you can get
from a three-shot bracketed sequence.
1. If you use an application to transfer the files to your computer, make sure it does
not make any adjustments to brightness, contrast, or exposure. You want the real
raw information for Merge to HDR to work with. If you do everything correctly,
you’ll end up with at least three photos like the ones shown in Figures 4.16.
2. Load the images into Photoshop using your preferred RAW converter. Make sure
the 16-bits-per-channel depth is retained (don’t reduce them to 8-bit files). You can
load them ahead of time and save as 16-bit Photoshop PSD files, as I did for my
example photos.
3. Activate Merge to HDR by choosing File > Automate > Merge to HDR Pro.
4. Select the photos to be merged, as shown in Figure 4.17, where I have specified the
three 16-bit NEF files. You’ll note a checkbox that can be used to automatically
align the images if they were not taken with the D7000 mounted on a rock-steady
support.
5. Once HDR merge has done its thing, you must save in PSD, PFM, TIFF, or EXR
formats to retain the 16-bit file’s floating-point data, in case you want to work with
the HDR image later. Otherwise, you can convert to a normal 24-bit file and save
in any compatible format.
Chapter 4 ■Getting the Right Exposure 125