Re: Snow Photo

On Dec 8, 5:07 pm, Pat <gro...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Dec 8, 3:06 pm, fl...@xxxxxxxxxx (Floyd L. Davidson) wrote:





Vance <Vance.L...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Dec 8, 4:55 am, fl...@xxxxxxxxxx (Floyd L. Davidson) wrote:

Good point Floyd!
When snow looks grey, am I right in thinking that exposure compensation
ought to be turned up (+) some, maybe ½ to 1?
Marcel

Yes.  The EXIF data on that particular image said it was
at 0.  Probably about +1 or +1.5 would have made it a
much more interesting shot.

I happened to like the composition, but that is entirely
a matter of taste.  But because of that I tried playing
with it a little, and it can actually be made into a
relatively nice image (given that the downloaded image
was 480x360).

But who's to say, maybe that was exactly what she wanted
it to be! :-)

I'm not so sure about that.  You have a very flat and diffuse lighting
situation with overcast skies and, from the background, perhaps a very
light snow falling.  If you look at the histogram, everything is
within the dynamic range of the sensor and almost classic in shape,
or, at least what the books tell you to look for.  Looking into the

I'm not sure I agree.  There actually is very little in
that scene which should be "black".  It is all well lit,
and the darkest thing is the gray bark on the trees.  In
fact, if you diddle with it and increase the "exposure",
there is a lot of great detail in the trees that is lost
because the image is too dark.

Likewise, the white areas in the background /should/
have been allowed to blow out!  There is no detail there
anyway, because if nothing else it is all out of focus;
hence no harm is done if it is over exposed.

background, you can see where the snow is much brighter in the open
field than it is in the foreground.  All in all, the exposure per se
isn't bad.  It could use a curve, but she doesn't post process her
images.

But *everyone* does do "processing".  The difference is
whether it is done by the camera or later on.  If done
with the camera's computer then the edit settings need
to be set *prior* to clicking the shutter.  And in this
case, given the low contrast scene, it is rather clear
that in addition to upping the exposure, the contrast
should also have been increased, but wasn't.  (The
purists who don't like to post process claim that is
"getting it right in the camera".)

Obviously one of the advantages of doing the post
processing on a PC and using RAW data files is that the
camera work is mostly the same regardless of the scene
contrast (exposure still needs to be adjusted, but
contrast, white balance, sharpening and the like don't),
and the adjustments to match it can be made later while
actually looking at the effects.

(After writing this article I went and looked at the web
site image again, and looked at several other images
from the same photographer.  Virtually *all* of the
images with snow look just like that one.  Many other
images, with fog or any sort of distant landscape, are
similar.  While it is also true that there are other
images that have a full tonal range, it appears to me
that she is intentionally selecting images which look
the way this one does, and (regardless of whether others
particularly like that style or not) she seems to like
them exactly like that!

I'll argue about technical points on how to do
something, but I am not about to argue that anyone
should change their style.)

The blue is from a daylight white balance when the color temp for the
conditions was probably around 6,800 - 7,100 K and not the result of
under exposure.  However, that may even be appropriate for the subject
in one valid interpretation.  If sunsets can be warm, why can't snow
scenes be blue?

Because it looks freaking *ugly*! ;-)

Or, at least it usually is, and certainly the blue that
comes out in that image when changing the contrast and
brightness was not an enhancement in any way.

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)              fl...@xxxxxxxxxx

Often one cannot see what is not there so one discusses what one can
see.  Well the problem with that picture isn't what you can see (in
the form of the exposure) but rather what you cannot see.  The problem
is the complete lack of a subject (making the most interesting part of
the picture the copyright notice).- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

My comments to Floyd were on things he had observed and specifically
re the exposure and that Judy doesn't intentionally post process her
images. Occassionally I have been known to take a decent snapshot and
much more than occassionally I'm aware of the deficits in all of my
images, so I can see many things about the image that are less than
'satisfying', but that would have been outside the scope of what I was
commenting on.

As far as there not being a subject, for Judy, there clearly is - the
snow contrasted with the trees. Is that subject carried off well?
No, but it pleases her and she likes to share occassionally and I
don't have a problem with that. I am not forced to view her images.

Vance
.

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