Posted by Bernie Kasper on January 21, 2007 at 9:18 PM
Took the wife and kid on a hike thru the park today, little clifty creek after a inch of snow. These are my first snow shots I have tried, and the metering is giving me fits, any advice
Posted by Jack Graham on January 21, 2007 at 9:52 PM
Bernie,
Are you shooting film or digital???
Basically--film , I meter madium tone, then open up 1-1/2 stops... digital, --well I'm just now getting used to the white balance stuff... basically I shoot RAW--no comp--make sure that if anything, I over expose just a bit then adjust in PS. Digital is more like print film... more forgiving.. slide film is much tougher as far as I am concerned.
I was out today in the park & shot a few frames. This image is a lot better than anything I shot today. As far as I am concerned this exposure is right on, the snow is bright white... the detail is good. As far as the comp. goes, leaving in the the snow border on the top really frames this nicely.
The weather is supposed to get colder this weel. I bet you get more icicles next weekend on... but the reality is I can't wait for spring!
JG
Posted by Bernie Kasper on January 21, 2007 at 9:58 PM
Hey Jack how are you doing, shooting with d200, spot metered at +1.5 on the rock next to the cascade..the question I guess I have is matrix or spot metering not sure which is best
Posted by Jack Graham on January 22, 2007 at 10:43 AM
Bernie,
IN most situations Matrix works surprisingly well. However snow can often "truck" the meter. I would definitely use spot metering in most snow situations. Try metering both ways and check out the differences. Maybe its because I learned photography before matrix metering came a long, but snow needs to be white! Again, whatever you did in this image you nailed it.
JG
Posted by Josh Anderson on January 22, 2007 at 12:03 PM
I don't know. From my work monitor the snow looks really blown out. I will have to check later on a better monitor.
When you shoot snow open up some and then check your histogram. If its all the way over to the right and it starts blinking black, that means you have lost all detail and the whites are blown out. You don't want that. What you want is that line to be very close to the right side without touching it.
Posted by Tom Schwerin on January 22, 2007 at 12:32 PM
My monitor shows the whites as blown also. They measure a straight 255 which would indicate that there is no detail left in the snow patches.If you were to print the image I think the lack of detail would be very noticable. Once detail is blown it is near impossible to recover. This is one good reason to do a custom white balance even when shooting raw. I am certain a PS Guru well jump in here and tell you that it can be fixed in PS but for my ,money blown is blown and the detail is no longer present.It just makes sense to get the shot as close as you can and then you won't have to worry about PhotoShop. Spot meter and open one stop would make sense to me as a starting point, just watch the histogram and see what it takes before it blows out. I sure like the image but I'm a sucker for waterfalls.
The whites are blown on my screen as well. With a digital camera, it should be pretty easy to get the right exposure. Just use the histogram to make sure the whites aren't blown out. If they are, just expose less until they drop into place. Gotta love instant feedback.
Posted by Jack Graham on January 22, 2007 at 4:47 PM
I would tend to agree that the whites are somewhat blown out, with little detail, however sometimes detail is hard to pick in snow looking snow from a distance. I am looking out my window right now at the snow, There is detail close up, but not a lot a few feet away. Though this image wouldn't print real well, I don't find the high lights really too over blown. Josh and Joel are right about the histogram. it is invaluable shooting snow and other bright subj sect. Again, matrix metering will almost without exception give strange results in snow.
Above is an image i shot using film ( Kodak 100 SW pushed 1 stop). I spot metered the moose's medium tone area on the rack, then compared it to the spot metered snow + 1/13 stops. It was exact. I remember this shot since it was shot shortly after I bought my F100. I also remember the matrix meter was completely confused by this shot.
Posted by Bernie Kasper on January 22, 2007 at 8:01 PM
Thanks for the feedback guys I tried again today we'll see how it works out, thanks again.
Posted by Danny Burk on January 23, 2007 at 11:40 AM
Bernie - yes, your whites are blown. You'll get better, more reliable results by spotmetering the snow patches, regardless of using film or digital. Once they're blown, no, you cannot regain detail in PS. BTW, I'm one of those who doesn't acknowledge the existence of matrix matering :)
I'd suggest that you spotmeter the brightest white patch and give it + 1.7 stops compensation. If it's truly brilliant white (detailless), you may be able to do 2 stops, but 1.7 is safer, then fine-tune in PS afterward.
Discussion
9 repliesAre you shooting film or digital???
Basically--film , I meter madium tone, then open up 1-1/2 stops... digital, --well I'm just now getting used to the white balance stuff... basically I shoot RAW--no comp--make sure that if anything, I over expose just a bit then adjust in PS. Digital is more like print film... more forgiving.. slide film is much tougher as far as I am concerned.
I was out today in the park & shot a few frames. This image is a lot better than anything I shot today. As far as I am concerned this exposure is right on, the snow is bright white... the detail is good. As far as the comp. goes, leaving in the the snow border on the top really frames this nicely.
The weather is supposed to get colder this weel. I bet you get more icicles next weekend on... but the reality is I can't wait for spring!
JG
IN most situations Matrix works surprisingly well. However snow can often "truck" the meter. I would definitely use spot metering in most snow situations. Try metering both ways and check out the differences. Maybe its because I learned photography before matrix metering came a long, but snow needs to be white! Again, whatever you did in this image you nailed it.
JG
When you shoot snow open up some and then check your histogram. If its all the way over to the right and it starts blinking black, that means you have lost all detail and the whites are blown out. You don't want that. What you want is that line to be very close to the right side without touching it.
Above is an image i shot using film ( Kodak 100 SW pushed 1 stop). I spot metered the moose's medium tone area on the rack, then compared it to the spot metered snow + 1/13 stops. It was exact. I remember this shot since it was shot shortly after I bought my F100. I also remember the matrix meter was completely confused by this shot.
I'd suggest that you spotmeter the brightest white patch and give it + 1.7 stops compensation. If it's truly brilliant white (detailless), you may be able to do 2 stops, but 1.7 is safer, then fine-tune in PS afterward.