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trying to shoot in the snow- very disheartened

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trying to shoot in the snow- very disheartened

  • gouganebride09
    Participant

    Hi , I was trying to get some nice snowy shots today and while they were good, I found myself gettting better shots from the auto mode :oops:

    Tried lots of different shutter speeds etc and things were not going well…too bright or too dark.

    Think I may be trying to run before I can walk :cry:

    I am only just getting to grips with the A and S mode

    Feel quite disheartened now :cry:

    joe_elway
    Participant
    Martin
    Participant

    For snow you need to use exposure compensation. You need to over expose the shot by 1 or 2 stops. Cameras are calibrated for mid gray which is around 18%. If you dont compensate the snow will come out 18% gray

    Also use the histogram. Keep changing exposure compensation until the histogram starts on the very right without going off the right hand side

    M

    petercox
    Member

    Yep. Ken Rockwell got it right (amazing!). Simply bump your exposure compensation up to +1 or so and it should work OK. Be careful not to overexpose – take a look at your camera’s histogram to make sure you’re not losing detail in the snow when you brighten it. If the histogram confuses you, you can read about what it is and how to interpret it on my histogram tutorial page.

    Cheers,
    Peter

    gouganebride09
    Participant

    thanks very much , I will try that the next time we have snow!!

    May try and put up a few of my best shots I have taken over the last while to see what you think…I will look at the forum to see where is best to post them,

    thanks

    shutterbug
    Participant

    Not easy to abandon Auto is it? But you can actually learn quite a bit
    from studying the shots that you took on auto, if they turned out ok and
    you are pleased with the results, look at the properties of the particular
    shot and all the exif data will reveal what settings the camera chose,
    compare them to the pictures you took in A/S or M mode and you will
    see where the differences are.

    A very good book is “understanding exposure” which I would say 80% of
    the members here have read, it is a no nonsense book with easy to
    understand examples and I personally found it invaluable in the transition
    from auto mode.

    Dont get disheartened it will get easier, :)

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