Olympus-OM
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [OM] Bracketing for snow

Subject: Re: [OM] Bracketing for snow
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:54:51 -0800
Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> I think the camera got the uncompensated exposure exactly "correct".  ....
>   

Just the conclusion I reached.

> The +1/3 compensation ... would also be considered a "correct" exposure ...
>   

Again agreed. Perfectly usable, with no loss of tonal detail.

> If you had set the exposure compensation to +0.5 or +1.0 you would have had a 
> lot of blown highlights.  

Yup. Mostly in the sky. The big lump of snow tones are quite a way down 
in the histogram.

> An exposure compensation of +2 might have been required if (ala OM-4) you had 
> spot metered the snow but, as it is, the normal metering is picking up a lot 
> of dark trees and apparently making the right decision uncompensated.
>   

Not only the fairly substantial area of lesser reflectance than the 
snow, but the heavy overcast mean that this is not, in fact, a "snow 
compensation" subject. Clear the sky for direct sun on this subject, and 
it would be so.

> So, what's the right exposure?  Probably the baseline. 

Yup.

> The image is improved by increasing the mid-tone brightness but that tends to 
> push the highlights toward the end.  If starting from the +1/3 it would 
> probably be necessary to back it off a bit to keep the highlights from 
> washing out as the overall brightness is increased.
>
> But I think the camera pretty much nailed it. 

Well ... Yes and no, from my perspective. this is one of those shots 
where I disagree with the "Get it right in the camera and avoid the evil 
of post  processing." viewpoint. I suspect there are photographers out 
there who could pick the right film, lens and exposure to give this 
subject some real life in a slide or print. I'm not one of them, nor 
ever likely to be. The thousands of hours of practice and experience 
needed to reach that level don't appeal to me.

I offer the work of far less than an hour as an alternative. 
<http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/Others/Barker/WoodlandSnow.htm>

The problem with this shot out of the camera is not brightness, per se, 
but tonal locations, local, area and overall contrast and lack of 
sharpening. Sharpening is important for the top part of this kind of 
image as it highlights the contrast between snow and the many branches 
so they don't mush together. Foreground, background and woman each 
treated separately.

> Now it's only up to you as to how you really want it to look.
>   

Indeed, that's why I offered three levels of brightening. Hard to tell 
from here how bright and crisp the day looked to those who were there.

Moose
-- 
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Sponsored by Tako
Impressum | Datenschutz