A series in the snow... (C&C Needed)

[Rebel]

Morning everyone,

I woke up this morning and it had been snowing and was trying to snow again. I promised myself a lie in this morning, but as I have never had the opportunity to shoot (in the) snow I couldn't resist! So I grabbed my camera and a coffee and headed out! (FREEZING!)

These are some of the shots I took, I have to admit I have struggled with the PP a bit so any C&C is most welcomed. I have posted some shots of this waterfall before on the forum I believe, it was the waterfall they used in one of the Batman movies (not sure which, not a huge fan) as the Bat Cave... Obviously there was some CGI involved

I am now going to jump in a hot bath, hope you like the images

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5

[Kaye Leggett]

Good captures - ughh snow !! All the images seem a little dark, but they may be my monitor as I only have access to a laptop at present.

[Rebel]

Good captures - ughh snow !! All the images seem a little dark, but they may be my monitor as I only have access to a laptop at present.

Thanks Kaye, I think they are a little dark, it was pretty gloomy this morning.

I might try and lighten them up later.

[Rebel]

Tried to lighten them up a bit without pushing the whites too far, also converted the 1st image to B&W.

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5

[JR1]

use colour (temp) correction to produce white snow

[selig1656]

Gotta love the use of histograms, pic three is just a little too busy for me.When shooting snow I utilize bracketing.

[JohnRostron]

I do like the waterfall shots, especially the second (#5).

John

[Rebel]

use colour (temp) correction to produce white snow

Care to elaborate on that?

[Kaye Leggett]

The edits are much better. I like them all but especially the first two

[Mike Buckley]

I especially like the second one for its gorgeous light, texture, layers and foreground material that adds both depth and scale to the image. Exceptionally well done!

[Whistletown Wilds]

They're good but I like to be there when the sun breaks out!

[marlunn]

Nice series Matt,
cold here in the Vale of Glamorgan but no snow - saw it on the hills, but we dont get it very often as we are on the coast

[Rebel]

Thanks for the views/comments guys.

They're good but I like to be there when the sun breaks out!

That was the plan but it got too cold and my walking boots sprung a leak! Maybe tomorrow...

[klpurkett]

I especially like the lightened version of #2 and the original version of #5. Nice work!

[Rebel]

I especially like the lightened version of #2 and the original version of #5. Nice work!

Thanks Kristy

[Manfred M]

Matt - if the clock on your camera is set correctly, you either had a very heavily overcast day or (more likely) your camera's light meter was fooled by the snow. While I'm oversimplifying a bit here, the assumption built into a camera's metering system is based on an average scene, which could translate into the same overall density as "neutral gray".

Snow is, well "snow white", not gray or some other tone, as per your first two images. This means you have to override your camera's natural tendency to underexpose snow, by using exposure compensation. I usually start at +1 and check my histogram and go from there; adding or subtracting exposure in 1/3 stop increments until I'm happy with it. Unfortunately, there is no "rule of thumb" you can use, as every situation is different.

The second issue with snow (being white) is reflects other colours. On a sunny day, in open shade, snow usually has a blue tone, colour reflected by the blue sky, So in that kind of lighting one really has a "mixed lighting" situation, and colour correction can be a bit complex. The colours in your second shot are quite strange; I don't think the simple colour temperature change that Jeremy suggests is necessarily going to work. What colour were the clouds when you took the shot?

[NorthernFocus]

I really like the first and last for content. The others are a bit busy. The B/W conversion is a good idea but as others have mentioned it is a bit dark with the snow appearing grey. Bringing out a bit more detail and color in the last might be interesting. Good for you getting out and shooting in those conditions. Nicely done.

[Rebel]

Matt - if the clock on your camera is set correctly, you either had a very heavily overcast day or (more likely) your camera's light meter was fooled by the snow. While I'm oversimplifying a bit here, the assumption built into a camera's metering system is based on an average scene, which could translate into the same overall density as "neutral gray".

Snow is, well "snow white", not gray or some other tone, as per your first two images. This means you have to override your camera's natural tendency to underexpose snow, by using exposure compensation. I usually start at +1 and check my histogram and go from there; adding or subtracting exposure in 1/3 stop increments until I'm happy with it. Unfortunately, there is no "rule of thumb" you can use, as every situation is different.

The second issue with snow (being white) is reflects other colours. On a sunny day, in open shade, snow usually has a blue tone, colour reflected by the blue sky, So in that kind of lighting one really has a "mixed lighting" situation, and colour correction can be a bit complex. The colours in your second shot are quite strange; I don't think the simple colour temperature change that Jeremy suggests is necessarily going to work. What colour were the clouds when you took the shot?

Thanks for your response Mandfred, a lot for me to read up on there.

If I recall on the second shot, the sun was trying to break through the clouds, so it wasn't far off what you see there.

[TobyMac]

Nice series, but I personally like Nr.2 the most. I really like the way the Image has layers, from the grasses up close till the mountains in the back and the clouds and trees introduce a nice bit of texture. I would however, as suggested before, work on the colour correction but I would keep the yellow in the sky as it adds something to the image.
I also quite like Nr.5 but my eye seems to not be quite sure where to settle, I keep being pulled between the focal point that is the waterfall and the cool looking branch in the floor to the right, but yet something interests me in this shot.

[Rebel]

Just a thought, a lot of my images tend to get a blue overcast which might affect the snow colour?

I have adjusted the blues sliders in both as well as a few other adjustments and here are the results, any improvements?