Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: KMRennie on January 29, 2015, 04:29:20 pm
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Although it is not really very much it is the first real snow on the wall this winter. I have been playing with different mono conversion techniques and think that I have darkened the snow a bit too much in some cases. All comments welcome especially about compressing the snow tones so that they range from the bright to the very bright.
Ken
Fuji XE-1.
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Some lovely and novel compositions in #3 and #4. My pet peeve: gray snow. But you already knew that.
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I struggled with grey snow for some time. The trick is to get it white, without losing the texture detail. Number 3, though I've seen a thousand shots of that tree, is a lovely composition, with some great detail to be brought out as you lighten & whiten that snow.
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Nice images. My favorite is #4 and I agree with Slobodan about the grey snow.
Number four has some large dust spots immediately above the horizon, to the right of the bush (tree?). Or were those snow flakes? ;)
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All four are stunning my my favorite is also #4.
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All good, but 4 is especially engaging.
The gray snow looks realistic to me.
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Number 2 for me. I think you can get away with grey snow in a B&W rendering but not so in colour, unless it is in the shade.
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#4 is my favorite, and as far as gray snow: I live in Baltimore; snow is gray here. ;)
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Thanks for the comments, I will look at the dust spots and remove them. I have been back out on the wall today with sunshine and have several hundred new images. The images were processed on my laptop with a completely new, to me, process. I will have another go at them tonight as well as looking at the new images and should post them soon. Ken
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2 shots from today, no grey snow. Weather much better today apart from a freezing mist that kept swimming in and out of view. Fuji XE-1 XF 18-55.
Ken
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#3 for me, but I agree with Slobodan about the snow.
Jeremy
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The last two are splendid. I couldn't choose one over the other.
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I'm a sucker for good B&W landscapes, and there's a few here. That last one I particularly like.
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No grey snow at Sycamore gap. I am working on the other images but I have lifted the highlights but hoprfully left some shaping in the image. Any comments
Ken
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You are on your way to success here. :)
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Now the highlights in DSF1551 are clipped (particularly those on the foreground and on the wall). I like them all, I would lighten the DSF1584 (preserving the highlights and the general contrast of the scene) and operate only on the luminance (it is a bit too blue).
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Buongiorno Muntanela
I agree about the blown highlights and the colour cast, one of the problems of working on a cheap laptop. I am slowly re-working the images on a decent monitor. So another 2.
Ken
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great 3d (and first). and generally excellent in composition and b/w rendering.
I like the snow control, without hot/burned zones, and very good also the richness of subtle tones.
well done!
sandro
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one of the problems of working on a cheap laptop
My favorite is still the last one (updated).
I agree, that processing on a laptop can be problematic. I usually take my macbook air on trips and begin adjusting images. When I return home, I need to re-adjust all images to a better quality. I've learned to not do final processing on a laptop - though it's a good starting point.
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Some lovely and novel compositions in #3 and #4. My pet peeve: gray snow. But you already knew that.
Just out of curiousity and seriously: from which grey-scale value does grey becoming white in your judgement?
Harald
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Generally speaking when shooting snow a +1 EV is needed? As long as you don't over expose then it is better than grey?
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Ken, my favorite is definitely #2 - the tonal range of the snow is ok by me - the stark reality of the first snow - the grasses gamely peaking out of the snow in the foreground leading to the scraggy little tree in the middle ground and the bleak cold background scene - great atmosphere :)
Best Bee
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I can't answer for anyone else but in #1476, the first Sycamore gap shot. The foreground snow had an L value of approx 60 and that is pretty grey when I reworked it the L value was in the mid to high 80s. The original was shot with exp comp of +1. It was this low as I was shooting into the light. 1518 was +2.33 and 1551 was +2. I bracket every time (in RAW) I shoot but the Fuji XE-1 only has +/- 1 stop when bracketing and only +/- 2 stops of exposure compenstation any more than this requires manual exposure. I check the histogram of the middle shot but usually end up using the shot 1 stop more exposed and pull the highlights back. I hope this helps anyone. On an oblique topic why do some photographers refer to checking their shot, surely a prudent move, as chimping which strikes me as deliberately insulting? Beebbibi I too prefer the scraggy little tree shot and have just printed it on mat paper and it looks like a very nice pencil drawing.
Ken
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...from which grey-scale value does grey becoming white in your judgement?
I honestly do not know. I usually do not "paint by numbers." It is more, as you suggested, a visual judgment during post processing . Depending of the time of day, weather conditions, angle of sun, etc. snow can be blindingly white (in which case something around 250-252 might be appropriate, with some specular highlights blown perhaps), or more or less gray. It is not that snow can not be presented as gray, it is more that the grayness should match the overall mood.
My comment about gray snow as my pet peeve comes more from seeing too many underexposed shots by people who think that modern, oh, so sophisticated cameras and their metering systems can not possibly go wrong (this isn't directed to the OP, btw) and let automatic exposure handle the snow. As most of us here know, that isn't the case, as any built-in meter is designed to deliver "proper" exposure under assumption that the subject is medium gray. Using a hand-held, incident light meter, gray card, or simply overexposing by one or two f/stops, usually results in a more agreeable snow.
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Michael Freeman says (I think) the snow in sunshine should be at 235-245.