Winter Exposure

[Sistereinstein]

Morning DPS peeps. Here is an image I took Feb 2010. I really love this house, and wish to try to capture it's enchantment on me. A winter shot is perfect, especially with some snow falling.

Because it's winter and a cloudy day, I'm doubting the exposure. Because the exposure I chose it washed out the image. I've had to do a lot of tweaking to pull out contrasts/shadows.

So my question is: how do you pull out a good exposure SOOC (or more specifically, how do I pull off both a good exposure and balanced contrasts?



EXIF:
Camera Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
Exposure 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 55 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias +2/3 EV

[Psyclop]

Let's bring it back to the top.
Sorry I'm not here to give answer, but more like I have the same problem and sure would not mind if a pro would answer your question.
My picture in the snow on a really cloudy day, looked washout, no vibrant color out of it sor me also
Let's try to be a teacher's pet and give an apple to the teacher(People that critic our picture)

[Sistereinstein]

Thanks for the bump Psyclop! One aspect that I didn't notice was how different things look between monitors. It looks fine on my LED monitor, but on my husband's laptop is was awful/horrendous.

[2stroke]

I am no pro so take my .02 with a grain of salt.

I havent shot or converted much into black and white, but it seems that this shot would be a good candidate for a black and white conversion. As for exposure, you have dark trees, roof, & windows paired with white house and snow, without turning it into HDR, maybe some reworking of a raw image to gain some texture in the bark of the trees and bring 2 images together and do a black and white that shows the texture in the house and the tree bark.

[SwissJon]

About half my exposures end up black and white.. 50% of those I preplan, the rest I convert because I find they look better (Hit the V key in Lightroom to toggle between Colour and B&W) so I thought about this a little.

I have to say, this exposure DOESN'T look good in B&W. The reason being is that while there's a lot of contrast, you've got a lot of detail in the dark tree areas, and the house just gets lost. The photo is basically exactly the same in B&W as it is in colour.

I think the problem here is not the colours, it's the composition.. The house is lost in a bit of a mess I'm afraid.. The foreground is a tangle of sticks and wire, the upper part is a mess of branches obscuring the house, the house is white, the foreground is white, the sky is white the falling snow is white and adds to the confusion.. There just isn't enough definition to allow me to pull anything useful.

Sorry to be so cruel here, but I think you need to go back on a different day, when the sky is blue and there's no snow falling, use a graduated filter on the snow in the foreground, (dark bit at the bottom) try not to over expose the sky (a polorising filter would help) and try to frame the photo without the messy foreground and if you can, try to find an angle that has fewer trees in front of the house.. Perhaps move forwards and use a shorter focal length.

I'm not a pro either, just an enthusiastic amateaur, so take my view with as much salt as you feel neccesary..

[Sistereinstein]

Nothing cruel about criticisms - that's what this forum is for. I just happen to disagree. I would most defintely keep this in color. Regarding the tress, I kind of like the framing of it, especially the patch of brown. It's not the composition that I'm questioning, because for whatever reason, I really like it. This is what I see when I pass this house and even looking at it now, I smile.

What I'm having difficulty with is regarding the exposure. SwissJon gives a good piece of advice on using a graduated ND filter. I don't own one, but I can see what I can do in LR. I don't own a polarizing filter either, that might help (not sure until I try). I need to balance the brown of the trees with the snow and I'm not ready to give up yet.

edit: I may also try combining a few exposure, but at this point, I'm not that good at it.

I'm certain you all will see other compositions of this house, and I really value your opinions on my work!

[ShawnB]

I'm still very new to all of this as well, so I can't say what settings changes would make for a better photo. I do like the photo though. I keep getting drawn to it. I can see why you took the shot from the position you did, even though it is a bit busy, it's what you see when you pass by. If you went with a different position it would change your perspective and not feel the same to you. I can understand that. Sometimes our mind prefers the sentimentality instead of the what others would consider a perfect placing.

I agree with SwissJon that if you went on a day when the sky was bluer and the snow wasn't falling it would help enhance the colors. The only part of the photo that is distracting to me is the falling snow. I wouldn't go B&W either, you would lose a lot of depth in the dark areas.

I am curious as to what others would say on the settings that may be changed to help improve the exposure. Would anyone change the aperture, ISO, etc.? Also a newbie question for SwissJon, can you use more than one filter at a time? I have a polarizing filter on my camera but I do not have a graduated filter. You can stack them?

I hope others are able to give more constructive criticism. I'm interested in the changes that would improve this photo as well as how to improve on my photography.

[SwissJon]

Originally Posted by Sistereinstein

......using a graduated ND filter. I don't own one, but I can see what I can do in LR. I don't own a polarizing filter either, that might help (not sure until I try). I need to balance the brown of the trees with the snow and I'm not ready to give up yet.

The LR grad filter isn't bad, and might help in this case, but a real one can have much better effects because it would allow you to get the exposure right on the house, bringing out the details and the under exposed trees.

If you're going to buy anything for your camera that will make a huge improvement to your pictures, I'd buy a polorising filter, even before a better lens. The effect it has, especially on water is impossible to replicate in post processing (The main effect being the fact that you can take away glare in a way you can't with an ND filter.)

There are plenty of "cokin" alike cheap filters on fleabay.. They can cast a colour onto your photos because they're not true neutral grey, this can be removed post processing, and while it's not ideal, at least it give you a chance to work with filters. There are also plenty of more expensive filters too that will give you far better results, but for $5 or so, you can at least start to play and realise that your camera really can produce stunning pictures, given the right circumstances.