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Andrea
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18-12-09, 11:57 PM
#1

Where did it all go wrong?

Tried capturing a picture of the snow but i'm not pleased with the result, parts look quite dark and i struggled to get the right balance . The strong sunlight didn't help and i've yet to get a filter.

Had to do some cloning, there was a great big beast of a mill around the far bridge and when i zoomed in, i also noticed a man with his dog. Not too bad, apart from the fact the dog was in the process of emptying his bowels, not a great subject matter

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19-12-09, 07:14 PM
#2

Re: Where did it all go wrong?

Hmm, the sky is blown and the snow is in shadow, I see what you mean... :/ I can'treally offer much advice with any confidence, but it will be interesting to see what others can offer There were some interesting articles in several photography mags recently about snow!

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Andrea
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19-12-09, 09:06 PM
#3

Re: Where did it all go wrong?

Thanks for the reply. I struggled with this one, even though it was a very dull day, there was some strong low sunshine coming from the left.
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20-12-09, 05:50 PM
#4

Re: Where did it all go wrong?

This is a common fallacy of cameras utilizing auto exposure systems. Because the sky is so broad and "blown out" the camera averages it's exposure overcompensating for that big empty sky. You can compensate for this situation in a number of different ways. You can bracket your exposure adding or subtracting light as needed, you could shoot in RAW format and adjust such things as white balance, & levels, or you can spot meter on the snow, lock the setting and recompose for the original scene. As a last resort you can use graphics software to adjust different areas of your photo for proper exposure & white balance. Example below:

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20-12-09, 07:15 PM
#5

Re: Where did it all go wrong?

Some great tips there
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Andrea
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21-12-09, 11:44 AM
#6

Re: Where did it all go wrong?

Hi,
Thanks a lot for the info, i'll try what you suggested while we still have a little snow left.
Andrea
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22-12-09, 03:59 PM
#7

Re: Where did it all go wrong?

I agree with the vast majority of what Bob has suggested.

However, when metering for snow one has to be aware that the camera's metering system will attempt to interpret the snow as 18% grey. This will give you grey looking snow.

One has to over ride the meter and add between 1 & 2 stops exposure to ensure white snow. So with your image you have a problem.

White snow and a really blown out sky or a correctly exposed sky and horrible dingy under exposed snow.

Guess where I am going. Yes, neutral graduated filters. With this image a grad is essential and not a luxury. Trying to capture this image correctly in camera without one is impossible.

I have tried a bit of jiggery pokery with you image, the result of which is below.

Step one, I opened it in PS and saved it as a TIFF file.
Step two I opened the TIFF file in Lightroom.
Step three Using the graduated filter tool I reduced the exposure in the sky.
Step four using the auto white balance pointer tool I chose the snow to auto white balance
Step five I used the Adjustment brush tool to reduce the exposure of the really bright patch in the water.

There are some JPEG artefacts showing but this cannot be avoided except by using RAW capture in the first place.




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Andrea
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23-12-09, 04:17 PM
#8

Re: Where did it all go wrong?

Thanks for having a go with it Steve and Bob, i like it. I've had a go myself but i'm not really competent enough with editing programmes to get it how i want it, so i really apprieciate your efforts.


This is the best i got it, not great but hopefully slightly better than my original ???

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