benisntfunny posted:

It requires a tripod (unless you're Ken Rockwell), and some ways are better than others.

If you can, bracket the exposures. You might not know what bracketing is but I'm fairly certain any dSLR has the option. It will allow you to take a shot at 3 different exposures one after another. So you could do -2, 0, +2 for example. This is nice because you won't have to touch the camera to make adjustments between shots. You should also shoot this with a cable release, IR remote, or if all else fails set the camera timer and take your hand off the camera.

In an imperfect world, like it tends to be, bracketing might not work because evenly changing the exposure across the three pictures might not be ideal. Unless your goal is poo poo HDR in which case -2, 0, +2 is perfect! However, you can't bracket be extremely cautious when you touch the camera, even on the tripod, because the slightest movement can be irritating to deal with when it comes to editing.