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Roxanne says: Overexpose that Snow!

AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
edited February 28, 2008 in Technique
I talk about this alot, but shooting my dog yesterday, in the fresh snow, made me think about posting this again.

Your camera's meter will be fooled by the snow, thinking it's all one big 18% grey card.

here is the shot with the camera deciding what to do:
258233365_2rwC5-XL.jpg

So, the solution is to set your camera's exposure compensation to +1, +1.3, or +1.6 and make up for that :evil

here is the shot with me deciding what to do (+1.66 ev):
258233336_J6Eo8-XL.jpg

So everyone, remember, overexpose that snow :thumb
Andy

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    HarrybHarryb Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 22,708 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2008
    Good tip Andy but what's snow? :cavig
    Harry
    http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
    How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
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    pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,698 moderator
    edited February 24, 2008
    Gorgeous dog, Andy. Excellent demonstration of the evils that befall those who depend entirely on reflected light meters too.:D

    Do you have the exif data for these two images? I could not read them from the online files. I want to compare them to Sunny 16 predictions.
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    AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2008
    pathfinder wrote:
    Gorgeous dog, Andy. Excellent demonstration of the evils that befall those who depend entirely on reflected light meters too.:D

    Do you have the exif data for these two images? I could not read them from the online files. I want to compare them to Sunny 16 predictions.
    EXIF:

    1/3200th sec, f/2.8 0EV
    1/1250th sec, f/2.8, + 1.33 EV

    both at ISO 100
    Andy

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    DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2008
    What happens if Roxanne puts out the red light? How does that affect exposure? ear.gif
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    pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,698 moderator
    edited February 24, 2008
    Andy wrote:
    EXIF:

    1/3200th sec, f/2.8 0EV
    1/1250th sec, f/2.8, + 1.33 EV

    both at ISO 100

    1/3200th f2.8 ISO 100 is correct for sunlight subjects.

    Was it moderately overcast when these where shot perhaps?
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
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    AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2008
    pathfinder wrote:
    1/3200th f2.8 ISO 100 is correct for sunlight subjects.

    Was it moderately overcast when these where shot perhaps?
    High bright overcast.
    Andy

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    pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,698 moderator
    edited February 24, 2008
    Sunny 16 would yield 1/1600th f2.8 ISO 100, ( + 1 stop for shadows with soft edges or cloudy bright ) eg: 1 stop more than in bright sunlight.

    Pretty close to your 1/1250th isn't it?thumb.gif
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
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    saurorasaurora Registered Users Posts: 4,320 Major grins
    edited February 25, 2008
    Harryb wrote:
    Good tip Andy but what's snow? :cavig

    Harry, think sand only brighter!!! mwink.gif
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    Glenn NKGlenn NK Registered Users Posts: 268 Major grins
    edited February 26, 2008
    Harryb wrote:
    Good tip Andy but what's snow? :cavig

    The white decorative stuff that blows off trees in hurricanes.rolleyes1.gif
    "There is nothing that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and he who considers price only is that man’s lawful prey". John Ruskin 1819 - 1900
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    doug pettwaydoug pettway Registered Users Posts: 55 Big grins
    edited February 26, 2008
    i've found that maintaining the balance between proper whites and retaining details to be rather difficult. any tips on doing that? burning and dodging? exposure bracketing? what works for you?
    "A .jpg is worth 1kb of .txt"

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    IcebearIcebear Registered Users Posts: 4,015 Major grins
    edited February 27, 2008
    Harryb wrote:
    Good tip Andy but what's snow? :cavig
    You poor, deprived soul :cry
    John :
    Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
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    LiquidAirLiquidAir Registered Users Posts: 1,751 Major grins
    edited February 27, 2008
    doug pettway wrote:
    i've found that maintaining the balance between proper whites and retaining details to be rather difficult. any tips on doing that? burning and dodging? exposure bracketing? what works for you?

    Curves in your RAW processor. The simplest answer is to adjust the exposure is to push the to put the highlights at the top of the histogram (as Andy says) and then push down the gamma/brightness (but not the exposure) in post. You can use more exotic cuves, but the brightness control (in ACR/Lighroom) often does the trick quite nicely.

    The typical curves used to produce JPEGs in camera tend to compress the highlights and squeeze out the detail. The standard curves are usually designed to bump midrange contrast at the expense of highlight and shadow detail, but in a scene that is predominatly white, that curve is working against you. While you can to more exotic things, pushing down the brightness is a quick and easy way of biasing that contrast bump toward the highlight end of the histogram.
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    pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,698 moderator
    edited February 27, 2008
    You tend to need a curve that looks like this for snow - the highlight quarter tones of the curve are steepened. This means flattening the curve in the lower three quarter of the image. This was done in Photoshop, but can also be done in ARC now.

    Sometimes you can do a small s curve in the upper quarter, but you will risk posterization unless you are careful with these moves.
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
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    doug pettwaydoug pettway Registered Users Posts: 55 Big grins
    edited February 28, 2008
    wow! very detailed responses. thank you so much. i will go back to some of my bad snow photos and give these a try.
    "A .jpg is worth 1kb of .txt"

    www.douglaspettway.com
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