HDR Bracket Calculator — Plan Your Bracket Sequence

It depends on the scene dynamic range and your camera. A typical interior with bright windows might have 12-14 EV of range. If your camera captures around 8 EV of usable single-shot range, you need brackets to cover the remaining 4-6 EV — at 2 EV steps that is 3-4 frames. Note 8 EV is a conservative figure (closer to an in-camera JPEG or an older sensor); a modern full-frame raw sensor reaches roughly 13-15 EV at base ISO (per DxOMark and Photons to Photos), so a single raw file often covers an outdoor scene with no bracketing at all.

For most HDR work, 1 or 2 EV steps work well. Smaller steps (0.5-1 EV) give smoother blending in the HDR merge but require more frames. Larger steps (2-3 EV) minimise the number of shots but may leave gaps in tonal coverage.

Always bracket shutter speed. Changing aperture changes the depth of field between frames, making alignment and merging much harder. Keep aperture and ISO constant, and only vary the shutter speed.

Outdoor scenes typically range from 10-14 EV. Interiors with windows can reach 15-18 EV. A sunset might be 12-16 EV. Overcast landscapes may only be 6-8 EV, often within a single exposure.

The sequence is centred on the metered exposure (0 EV) using equal EV steps. An odd number of frames is symmetric (for example −2, 0, +2 EV). An even number is skewed one step toward underexposure (for example −4, −2, 0, +2 EV) so the extra frame protects the brightest highlights, which clip irrecoverably, rather than the shadows, which merge more forgivingly.