File management - bracketing (AEB)

[PavleAU]

Maybe I am missing something, but is there a way to improve the file naming convention when shooting stills in AEB mode?

Yesterday I took a series of brackets to assemble as a highly detailed HDR panorama of my family farm. I’ve ended up with 66 files (22 shots with 3 brackets each).

All of the file names are in succession and there is very little way of identifying the frames that relate to each bracket. I know you can use exiftool (I don’t know how at this stage) so I’ve been trying to use the time code and ev from the metadata.

Does anyone have a successful workflow for this? Previously I’ve only done it with a lot fewer shots and it’s been straightforward to reconcile.

Would be ideal if each file name was DJI0800-1, DJI800-2 etc instead of DJI0800, DJI0801, DJI0802 when using AEB mode.

HDR mode obviously uses a new folder and labels individual frames much better, so DJI could improve this for AEB.

Forgot to add that Lightroom is giving me an error when I try to merge to panorama and I’m having difficulty identifying what is causing this error (assuming I’ve made an error when grouping the brackets / HDR merge).

 

[badbrain]

Lightroom CC or Classic. I know CC doesn’t support AEB merging.

Tried merging AEB before the panorama part of operation?

I mostly shoot 3 AEB shots and merge in LR Classic. Takes ages and is mundane but, hey! nice photos. If you save them as a stack, you can clearly see then hdr image in your files. At least on a Mac.

Check @badmouche for some examples of aeb hdr.

 

[PavleAU]

Yeah, I’m on the latest Lr CC on Mac. Managed to pull together enough frames to produce a really nice pic with plenty of detail doing it set by set.

Did a few tests since with 5 shot brackets and only 2 lots (10 shots total), it’s definitely a PIA & should be something that is sorted by DJI.

You’re correct LR doesn’t identify the AEB and it requires you to merge and stack manually. It seems to be able to identify DSLR raws from the major players judging by YouTube vids I’ve seen, so maybe it will work one day with DJI.

Agree, the quality of image is vastly improved using AEB. I will check out @badmouche

 

[larryc43230]

Just for clarity, the latest version of Lightroom Classic CC (Version 8.0) can create a panorama from a series of AEB shots with one command. I've created several panoramas using as many as nine separate scenes, each scene consisting of three AEB exposures. The results are pretty amazing. It takes a while, but it works. At least based on the posts above, this feature isn't (yet?) available with Lightroom CC, the cloud version.

Larry

 

[Simmo]

Yup, I agree Larry.

 

[larryc43230]

Here are the two HDR panoramas I've done as tests so far. I haven't had time to do any real travelling, so these are panos of the neighborhood pond and the area of my condo. Both were reduced to a width of 2000 pixels.

 

[larryc43230]

 

[PavleAU]

can create a panorama from a series of AEB shots with one command.

Yes, this is what I was initially trying to do, however it failed on multiple attempts. Only way I could complete the task was the original way using two steps.

I admit the first attempt was a significant ask being with so many images, but even on further tests, it still failed to complete.

What is the workflow you're using?
How do you identify the 3 (or 5) images to ensure they're from a bracketed shot?

Yup, I agree Larry.

two HDR panoramas

All great shots.

 

[larryc43230]

What is the workflow you're using?

Here's how I create an HDR panorama.

1. I mount the camera on a tripod. This step is optional, but I prefer a stable platform to get the best chance of a seamless stitching in post-production.
2. My camera is a Canon EOS M5, which has an AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) setting. AEB sets up the camera so that every time I press the shutter, three shots are taken: Standard exposure, underexposure, and then overexposure. I can control the amount of under- and overexposure; I normally use -2 stops and +2 stops to capture the widest possible exposure range. If your camera doesn't have an AEB setting, you'll need to manually take three exposures for each shot. I have no idea whether Lightroom requires you to take these three exposures in a set order for each shot; it probably does, but I let the camera do the work and don't have to worry about it.
3. I take a series of between three and seven AEB shots, starting at the left side and ending at the right. The number of shots varies depending on how wide (in degrees) I want the final product to be and the focal length of the lens. Each shot actually consists of three exposures, of course. Between shots, I rotate the camera so that there will be some overlap from one shot to the next. If the panorama consists of five shots (from five different angles), I'll be working with a total of 15 exposures.
4. I import the images into Lightroom Classic CC.
5. I select all the photos in the series, then right-click and select "Photo Merge... HDR Panorama" from the context menu.
6. Lightroom will create a preview of the stitched together panorama. This step might take a while, since it's computationally intensive.
7. Play with the three Projection options and select the one that looks the best (I can never seem to get the Perspective option to work).
8. Play with the other settings as needed, then click "Merge".

That's it. The end result should be one huge, wide high dynamic range image.

Larry

 

[PavleAU]

Canon EOS M5

Thanks Larry, I don't have any issues with this process using a regular camera, I shoot with a Panasonic G85 and lightroom functions as expected with HDR / Panorama merge - the issue is with my Mavic Air.

DJI AEB mode isn't detected in lightroom....
The file names don't have any uniqueness to identify them as part of a bracket.....
I need to manually select 3 or 5 frames and merge them, but some shots are so similar it's not a quick / simple task to ensure you grab the right frames for the bracket... I use the EXIF data to reconcile time and exposure which takes way too long if you have a lot of shots.

 

[larryc43230]

Thanks Larry, I don't have any issues with this process using a regular camera, I shoot with a Panasonic G85 and lightroom functions as expected with HDR / Panorama merge - the issue is with my Mavic Air.

DJI AEB mode isn't detected in lightroom....
The file names don't have any uniqueness to identify them as part of a bracket.....
I need to manually select 3 or 5 frames and merge them, but some shots are so similar it's not a quick / simple task to ensure you grab the right frames for the bracket... I use the EXIF data to reconcile time and exposure which takes way too long if you have a lot of shots.

Creating an HDR panorama using photos from a drone (probably any drone) would be a challenge, for the reasons you've mentioned. I haven't tried it, but if I did, I can think of two methods.

The first is the method you described, using EXIF data to choose which shots to merge.

The second method would be to shoot three panoramas, saving the results as both RAW and JPEG. One of the panoramas would be at the "normal" exposure, the second would be two stops underexposed and the third two stops overexposed. I'd keep my fingers crossed that the drone would maintain the same position through all three panoramas. Whether Lightroom could sort out the images and create an HDR panorama out of them is a very good question.

Just for fun, I might try that second method the next time I fly.

Larry

 

[PavleAU]

Here is a quick example I took whilst testing AEB out (wasn't something I was planning to publish so composition / edit wasn't the aim here).
I used the 5 shot AEB mode on my Mavic air, took 7 shots so the final HDR image contains 35 shots (all images were RAW and merged into HDR and then Panorama in Lightroom)

You can't define the exposure bias on the Air, it's fixed at -1 3/10 | -7/10 | 0 | +7/10 | +1 3/10 (this is another area that could be improved as the range isn't the most comprehensive)

Anyway, here is the result (reduced from 5107 x 3566)


Shelly Beach : Looking north towards Cronulla beach, Sydney Australia

 

[larryc43230]

That sounds like a lot of work, but it was a worthy effort. Very nice result!

I decided to try my hand at HDR panoramas with my MA this morning. I'm not sure the end results were worth the effort, but I did get the approach to work. Here's a summary of my method:

1. I sent the drone up about 200 feet above the condo complex I live in. I set the camera exposure to manual after taking a reading for what seemed liked the overall best exposure. I had the drone take a 3x3 panorama. Then, without moving the drone, I set the "M.M." value (actually Exposure Value; no idea why it's labelled M.M.) to -1 by changing the ISO setting, then shot the panorama again. Lastly, I set the M.M. value to +1 by changing the ISO value in the opposite direction and shot the panorama again. (Thinking back on it, it might have been smarter to adjust the exposure via shutter speed, but this method seemed to work.) This resulted in three 3x3 panoramas, the first correctly exposed, the second underexposed, and the third overexposed.
2. I imported the photos into Lightroom, then (rather tediously) found and merged each of the three images in each of the nine segments to HDR.
3. That gave me nine HDR images, which I was able to merge into one HDR panorama. Surprisingly, when I selected the nine HDR images and selected "Merge to panorama" from the right-click menu, Lightroom told me it was doing an HDR Panorama merge. It must have somehow recognized that the nine images were already HDR.

Even on a totally windless day, the registration of the images from the three panoramas wasn't perfect. The drone did wander a tiny bit between panoramas, but overall the result was usable. Lightroom was able to merge all the images into HDRs, then merge the HDRs into one panorama. It isn't particularly publishable, it's just a shot of my neighborhood, but it is a proof of concept, I guess. Here's the result, reduced from 8929x5151:



Larry

 

[larryc43230]

Another HDR panorama test, this time to get a vertical panorama. Same approach as above, with just nine images to deal with (three vertical panoramas each consisting of three shots, with the results combined into three HDRs, then one panorama). Same conclusion, basically: The method works. I'm still deciding whether it's worth the effort.

 

[PavleAU]

That sounds like a lot of work, but it was a worthy effort. Very nice result!

Thank you.

I decided to try my hand at HDR panoramas with my MA this morning. I'm not sure the end results were worth the effort, but I did get the approach to work.

I didn't use the panorama mode on the drone, I used AEB mode and manually framed each shot in a panorama range, 2 rows high so I maximised both height and width - then crop in post as required.

Here's a summary of my method:

1. I sent the drone up about 200 feet above the condo complex I live in. I set the camera exposure to manual after taking a reading for what seemed liked the overall best exposure. I had the drone take a 3x3 panorama. Then, without moving the drone, I set the "M.M." value (actually Exposure Value; no idea why it's labelled M.M.) to -1 by changing the ISO setting, then shot the panorama again. Lastly, I set the M.M. value to +1 by changing the ISO value in the opposite direction and shot the panorama again. (Thinking back on it, it might have been smarter to adjust the exposure via shutter speed, but this method seemed to work.) This resulted in three 3x3 panoramas, the first correctly exposed, the second underexposed, and the third overexposed.
2. I imported the photos into Lightroom, then (rather tediously) found and merged each of the three images in each of the nine segments to HDR.
3. That gave me nine HDR images, which I was able to merge into one HDR panorama. Surprisingly, when I selected the nine HDR images and selected "Merge to panorama" from the right-click menu, Lightroom told me it was doing an HDR Panorama merge. It must have somehow recognized that the nine images were already HDR.

Even on a totally windless day, the registration of the images from the three panoramas wasn't perfect.

step 2 is where my main query lies. There has to be an easier way to identify the images that make up the 9 segments.

I also did the HDR merge first and Lr also identified the panorama as a HDR as per your description.

 

[larryc43230]

Yeah, it's that Step 2 that took most of the time, and most of the thinking, to get through. Even with the smarts of Lightroom, it's pretty tedious.

Larry