Wintertime pic

[skitterbug]

You're welcome.

Here's my suggestion about white balance: you can't always rely on getting it right in camera. It's easy to get it right under many conditions, but very hard under some others. Any postprocessing software should give you options for setting white balance. In a case like this, you can simply try warming it, or you can do as I did and find some areas that you think should be rendered as a neutral gray or white. Once you have a little more experience with postprocessing, folks can give you concrete suggestions for dealing with this.

Finding the area for proper white balance can be difficult, I imagine. Is that why there are gadgets showing pure white that can be placed within the photo area (edited out later) so there is a proper reference for white balance? I don't know what those "cards" are called - hope you know what I mean? For still scenes, these cards might be useful. For capturing wildlife, kids, etc. - not so much!

[Manfred M]

Sandy - I use a Firefox plugin called FxIF to view metadata.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...my-submissions

Download and install it and then right click on an image to see this information. It does not work 100% of the time as some image hosting services strip out the metadata so it is not accessible. I use Flickr for my images and they definitely strip out this data.

[skitterbug]

Sandt - I use a Firefox plugin called FxIF to view metadata.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...my-submissions

Download and install it and then right click on an image to see this information. It does not work 100% of the time as some image hosting services strip out the metadata so it is not accessible. I use Flickr for my images and they definitely strip out this data.

Thank you! I'll install it - I know it will be a useful aid for me.
Added after install: I have it now and it is exactly what I wanted! Yea! And thank you!

[Manfred M]

Sandy - we were all beginners at one point, so don't get too concerned about your skill level. Get out there, have fun and learn.

I see you live in an area where snow seems to be a significant part of life at this time of year.

A couple of quick tips should help you get better snow captures.

1. Your camera's light meter is set for an "average" scene, and a snowy landscape is everything except average, in fact they tend to be a lot lighter than average, so to make it look "average" your camera will tend to underexpose the scene quite significantly when you are using any of the automated settings. I know you said you don't like reading your manual, but check out the section on exposure compensation.

Exposure compensation allows you to override your camera's exposure recommendation and help give you a "properly" exposed image. Unfortunately, there is no simple rule of thumb that works, so experience and taking test shots are the best way to go. I start with a +1 setting, and will then look at my histogram to check my exposure. The trick is to have the histogram over to the right side, generally without clipping any highlights. Shots like yours, where you are pointing at the sun will have clipping, so this is something you need to figure out.

2. Snow will reflect the colour of the sky in shots like yours. The sky is blue, so the reflections are too. This is most noticeable in shadow areas, so you get the classic compromises that photographers see in "mixed lighting" situations. A low sun can give you warm tones and cold shadows, especially if you shoot at "golden hour" just after sunrise or just before sunset. How you treat this (if at all) is totally up to you. The contrast of yellow sunset and blue shadows can work quite well compositionally in some shots, less well in others.



I always pull out this sunset shot to demonstrate - warm glow from the direct sunlight, blue shadows from the sky falling on the snow.

[skitterbug]

Sandy - we were all beginners at one point, so don't get too concerned about your skill level. Get out there, have fun and learn.

I see you live in an area where snow seems to be a significant part of life at this time of year.

A couple of quick tips should help you get better snow captures.

1. Your camera's light meter is set for an "average" scene, and a snowy landscape is everything except average, in fact they tend to be a lot lighter than average, so to make it look "average" your camera will tend to underexpose the scene quite significantly when you are using any of the automated settings. I know you said you don't like reading your manual, but check out the section on exposure compensation.

Exposure compensation allows you to override your camera's exposure recommendation and help give you a "properly" exposed image. Unfortunately, there is no simple rule of thumb that works, so experience and taking test shots are the best way to go. I start with a +1 setting, and will then look at my histogram to check my exposure. The trick is to have the histogram over to the right side, generally without clipping any highlights. Shots like yours, where you are pointing at the sun will have clipping, so this is something you need to figure out.

2. Snow will reflect the colour of the sky in shots like yours. The sky is blue, so the reflections are too. This is most noticeable in shadow areas, so you get the classic compromises that photographers see in "mixed lighting" situations. A low sun can give you warm tones and cold shadows, especially if you shoot at "golden hour" just after sunrise or just before sunset. How you treat this (if at all) is totally up to you. The contrast of yellow sunset and blue shadows can work quite well compositionally in some shots, less well in others.



I always pull out this sunset shot to demonstrate - warm glow from the direct sunlight, blue shadows from the sky falling on the snow.

Your work is beautiful!
You'll laugh but I do have a "Rebel T3i/600D for Dummies book" and I'll check to see if it says anything about exposure compensation. (yes, it does...) Maybe the book will tell me how to see the histogram. (yes, there is a section about this too....) I reckon I'll have to "bite the bullet" and start reading.
I notice in the menu on my camera, there is a choice for Brightness or RGB for the histogram setting. Which setting is the best out of those two? Actually, my book probably tells me that too! (chuckle).
Thank you for all your help and suggestions! I'm not discouraged but I do hope I live long enough to become a better photographer!