Snowy day- very overexposed sky and blue ..

[acoleman]

I know this shot sucks, I really don't need a critique of the shot itself, I'd just like to know why the sky is so overexposed and why the shot has such a blue tint to it. It hasn't been edited at all... I'd like to know why it turned out like this and how to fix it. I also tried shooting it in another settings other than the 'cloudy' setting and it didn't help any Thanks for the help!


[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/amberhoward/6623950395/]

File Info 1
File: DSC_0378.JPG
Date Created: 1/3/2012 5:24:14 PM
Date Modified: 1/3/2012 5:40:40 PM
File Size: 3.60 MB
Image Size: L (4608 x 3072)
File Info 2
Date Shot: 1/3/2012 17:24:13.10
Time Zone and Date: UTC-5, DST:ON
Image Quality: Jpeg Normal (8-bit)
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Camera Info
Device: Nikon D3100
Lens: VR 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6G
Focal Length: 18mm
Focus Mode: AF-S
AF-Area Mode: Auto
VR: ON
AF Fine Tune:
Exposure
Aperture: F/6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/60s
Exposure Mode: Manual
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
Exposure Tuning:
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 800
Flash
Flash Sync Mode:
Flash Mode:
Flash Exposure Comp.:
Colored Filter:
Image Settings
White Balance: Cloudy, 0, 0
Color Space: sRGB
High ISO NR: ON (Normal)
Long Exposure NR: OFF
Active D-Lighting: Auto
Image Authentication:
Vignette Control:
Auto Distortion Control: OFF
Picture Control
Picture Control: [SD] STANDARD
Base: [SD] STANDARD
Quick Adjust: 0
Sharpening: 3
Contrast: Active D-Lighting
Brightness: Active D-Lighting
Saturation: 0
Hue: 0
Filter Effects:
Toning:
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[graciousness]

Several things that was going against you here:

HIGH ISO - On such a bright scene, you really don't need to use ISO as high as this. This has contributed to overexposure.

SLOW SHUTTER SPEED - the slower the shutter speed, the more ambient light you are bringing through to your image. If you are shooting agains bright ambientn light (i.e. skies, snow), you need to increase your shutter speed to bring LESS light in. Basically, you want to underexpose the sky and snow with the use of fast shutter speed. I would have started with f/250 and then adjust either up and down if required.

SHOOTING WITH JPEG - In instances like this where you could have fixed the image in post processing, there is only so much limit you can do with jpeg files. If you had shot in RAW, you could have done the adjustments required to fix the issues. I would highly recommend shooting in RAW.

SNOW vs BLUE SKY - the reason why snow and the whole image looks blue is because you ahve to remember that snow is white, therefore, it will reflect light and any colours around. Sky is blue, hence, blue light reflected to the scene. Shooting in RAW would help with fixing the White Balance settings.

USE NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTER - if you have one or live in an area as such where it snows, I would highly recommend using neutral density filters to help with overcoming such brightness in the scenes. Until such time you can use one, use fast shutter speed to underexpose bright skies and snow.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Grace

[acoleman]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to tell me how to improve! I really appreciate it! I'll be trying again soon

[RobSPhotoNut]

Not a lot of snow here, so I don't get much practice. From what I see of the exif data, the shot was late in the afternoon, dusky dark. That will add some of the off color. Also, were you using a filter? Looks like you might have been using a uv. If so, I suggest removing it. Last one, turn off brightness d-lighting and try. Looks cold there, and pretty. Good luck-

[sk66]

Sky is blown because you were shooting towards a bright section and exposing for "shadow"...the extreme blue is a combination of reflection of sky and underexposure. If the trail were properly exposed the sky would be even more blown out.

[Jubi]

I like this shot haha I think if you cropped out everything below the bottom of the central tree it would be great with the blown out sky, although the fence (i think its a fence) on the left isn't working for you

Not really the advice you were looking for, but hope it helps

[vainqueur]

I learned 1 trick from Bryan Peterson. For snowy shots like this, you have to use exposure lock feature using your palm as the guide. Meaning, stretch your hand out in front of your camera, aim the camera at your palm in front, then lock the exposure. Either that or you have to manually set the shutter speed.

[BryanC]

I'm not sure of your location, but going by the time of year, the time of day this was shot (late afternoon), the fact that there's snow on the ground and what I can tell about the terrain in the photo...I would guess the sun was fairly low in the sky, still bright enough to light the sky but maybe cast the rest of the scene in shadow. This would create a fairly wide dynamic range between the sky and the rest of the scene, making it just about impossible to expose both correctly at the same time without some other help.

Originally Posted by graciousness

HIGH ISO - On such a bright scene, you really don't need to use ISO as high as this. This has contributed to overexposure.

SLOW SHUTTER SPEED - the slower the shutter speed, the more ambient light you are bringing through to your image. If you are shooting agains bright ambientn light (i.e. skies, snow), you need to increase your shutter speed to bring LESS light in. Basically, you want to underexpose the sky and snow with the use of fast shutter speed. I would have started with f/250 and then adjust either up and down if required.

This was shot at f/6.3, 1/60s, ISO 800. Dropping the ISO and increasing the shutter speed might have toned down the sky but it would have really underexposed the rest of the scene. As it is, the scene other than the sky is underexposed, and as sk66 said, exposing the land part properly would have blown the sky out even more due to the wide dynamic range between the two.

Originally Posted by graciousness

USE NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTER - if you have one or live in an area as such where it snows, I would highly recommend using neutral density filters to help with overcoming such brightness in the scenes. Until such time you can use one, use fast shutter speed to underexpose bright skies and snow.

This wouldn't have helped as it would have affected the whole scene evenly and there would still be that wide range of exposure between sky and land. A graduated filter could help even out the exposure some. As for shooting snow dominant scenes, it sounds counter-intuitive, but you actually want to over-expose in these situations. A camera's meter wants to expose the white snow as "middle gray" and will actually under-expose the scene. It differs between cameras and conditions, but it's usually +1-2 stops than what the meter is reading. As for filters, a graduated filter can help tone down the sky while exposing for the snowy scene, or a polarizing filter in certain situations will give you a nice deeper color sky. If you do a search, there's a whole bunch of info on the net about shooting in snow, but the main point is that you have to outsmart the meter and over-expose to actually get the "correct" exposure.