WB for snow

sevencrossing

As my ski instructor would say "avoid the yellow snow"

DaveyJ

Adjusting WB is a dangerous approach to shooting snow. Shooting in Program or Aperature using a 1.0+ bias is usually the best way. Msmoto's suggestion is what I would use each time i should in snow. We have had forty days with snow where i live and despite the fact that we have about 1/2 ft. shows typical snow settling. Post process adjustment of snow is also dangerous as you have an original that is off. The meter as has been pointed out is adjusted (without it being altered) to 18% gray. Photographing a black cat in a coal mine or a polar bear in a snowstorm is best approached by biasing towards the right way based on the condition. As you have a very good LCD screen on your Nikon you can look at that in almost dark cloth conditions (I used to shoot 8x10 a lot in the snow from Maine to Alaska to Yosemite in California etc.) and adjust accordingly. I also photograph snowy scenes in moonlight and ALWAYS bias +/- on the camera works WAY better than WB manipulation.

Ade

@DaveyJ

Setting exposure and setting WB are not mutually exclusive actions. For any given picture, you need to have both settings correct, not just one or the other.

SquamishPhoto

Am I the first to point out how helpful an ND filter or polarizer is for these types of shooting situations? If you have direct sun on your scene it can generate a lot unwanted glare that can not only ruin a photo but it can throw off the metering even more. And like PitchBlack is alluding to, its not only quite simple to adjust WB in post it is actually much more accurate and easily automated.

Vipmediastar_JZ

So grey card, expo diskor nd filter and +1 EC should help? I haven't shot anything snow since the blizzard we had a few years back. I had the D7k back then and I'm pretty sure I used auto and 0 comp. The D7k almost never failed to have an accurate photo in camera for WB and exposure. I have added it to my do list to check the pics today. Witht he D Eight Hundred WB is accurate but I always seem to have to us -.7 or -1. Maybe I will brave the cold this year. I love the winter light in the City.

Ade

The D7000 in Auto mode has a "scene recognition system" which can (sometimes) correctly guess that you're taking a snowy picture and applies the +exposure compensation internally for you.

The D800 & D4 has an "advanced" scene database with a more complicated behavior in snow. In essence, if it thinks there's a person in the scene, then the D800 will tend to expose for skin tone and as a result might completely blow out the snow (requiring negative exp. comp if you want to preserve it). Conversely, if it doesn't see a person in the scene, then it will tend to preserve the highlights by shifting to the left (underexposing), requiring positive exp. comp if you don't want gray snow.

PB_PM

Which is why Matrix metering should be avoided at all costs...

Vipmediastar_JZ

The D7000 in Auto mode has a "scene recognition system" which can (sometimes) correctly guess that you're taking a snowy picture and applies the +exposure compensation internally for you.

I do remember now that the d7000 has scene modes. If your are refering to Auto in WB that explains it but I never used the scene modes as far as I can remember but I will verify that.

Msmoto

@NSXTypeR

I think the issues in your image involve not only the white balance for snow, but the lens flare from shooting into the sun. My suggestion might be to avoid having the subjects back lighted on snow. The dynamic range is an almost total indication for an HDR image, not very practical with animals in it.


I agree with PitchBlack about the split toning which may be indicated in post.

Ade

@Vipmediastar

If you recall the D7000 has the usual P, S, A, M modes, plus U1 and U2, plus SCENE modes (19 of them!), plus an AUTO mode (marked on the dial in green). Phew!

If you've used the green AUTO mode, then you've (indirectly) used the SCENE modes. Conceptually, what AUTO does is to automatically apply one of the 19 scene modes based on a "clever" algorithm.

SquamishPhoto

Getting it right in camera is a pipe dream given that there's no one setting that will get everything right. What I often do, and what really looks the best is expose the photo twice in LIghtroom: once for the subject and one for the background. Then you open them both and mask one into the other.

Ditto, I just do it all in PS. :]

Vipmediastar_JZ

@Vipmediastar

If you recall the D7000 has the usual P, S, A, M modes, plus U1 and U2, plus SCENE modes (19 of them!), plus an AUTO mode (marked on the dial in green). Phew!

If you've used the green AUTO mode, then you've (indirectly) used the SCENE modes. Conceptually, what AUTO does is to automatically apply one of the 19 scene modes based on a "clever" algorithm.

OH yeah I remember that now. I actually wanted to learn the camera and shot in M or A usually. I may have put in one of the scene modes when I first got it to see what settings the camera choosed and what Results I got.
Baby steps. witht he D80 I shot in P and jpg then ventured into Raw lol.

dissent

Fascinating discussion. Very timely for those of us in the northern hemisphere, and much food for thought here from everyone. Thanks for the great initial post.

Vipmediastar_JZ

I checked my feb 2011 blizzard pics. They were shot in scene mode for snow. The ones that were not shot in scene mode the wb has a hint of yellow but other wise it looks good when I do auto wb in Lightroom.

M35G35

You might want to try to use Center Weighted instead. The catalog 91k items in Matrix Metering fools the camera when it comes to snow.

spraynpray

"The catalog 91k items in Matrix Metering"

@M35G35: Care to explain to us what you are talking about? :-/