Yes, of course you're right about checking histograms and getting exposure right at the source. To avoid the dive into HDR, here's how I've been approaching exposure:
shoot raw, as all people of virtue and kindness will agree
bracket (why oh why do the Nikon D-300 and D-700 only bracket in 1 stop increments while the D-90 will allow variation of 1.5 stop and more?)
---and, yes, if part of the scene is definitely brighter or darker, cheat the base exposure
in processing, use ACR (or other) to fudge the exposures from frame to frame a little more
---they don't have to all be perfect exposure matches--the stitching software may surprise you with how well it blends
---process the files so their values fall more to the mid range, even if it makes the pictures look a bit flat
--- ---you don't want to throw away highlight and shadow information yet if you don't have to
---of course, don't feel obligated to choose the same bracket from each set
---also, alter individual color balance settings if the color varies across the scene
---CS-4 also has the nice adjustment brush feature to help with smaller local corrections
work in 16 bit color
---16 bit makes my 13 D-90 files twice as big but PT Gui can still process them fairly quickly
---that last inevitable bit of Photoshop tweaking will look smoother in 16 bit, as will the whole file when you apply the adjustment layer to goose the contrast back to normal
the Shadow-Highlight tool is a great help, too
---duplicate the final Photoshop layer, run S-H on the duplicate, then use a layer mask to make it disappear in the places you don't want to see it
So, to control the tonal range of very wide scenery, here's a list of tools that I see so far:
- shoot raw
- vary base exposure from frame to frame, if necessary
- bracket
- refine individual exposures and color balance in raw processing
- do some "dodging and burning" with the adjustment brush
- rely on stitching software's ability to blend edges of differing brightness
- 16 bit color for better manipulation of details and tonal range in finished pano
- shadow-highlight
Is this a complete list?
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