Bright Bright Bright - Full Sun

[PhotographyNut]

Just looking to see what you guys do for photographing landscapes in full sun (with snow). Do you lower the exposure to limit the blown highlights and then add some fill light in an editor or do you do something else? I ask because currently I lower the exposure and do all the lightening with an editor. This seems like a very tedious process, so I feel that I must be doing something not right. Any tips? Increase shutter instead? What do you do?

Thanks

[OsmosisStudios]

Depends on the scene, really. There's no one-trick-fits-all method.

[dcclark]

Shooting a snowy and brightly lit scene is really tough. Osmosis is right in that it's mostly case-by-case. I usually end up trying a variety of test shots. Often snow will confuse a camera into underexposing, since so much of the scene is so bright. So, I will sometimes dial in some positive exposure compensation. On the other hand, sometimes negative compensation is called for. Learn how to use your in-camera histogram to determine when.

[i speak in math]

I usually meter for the brightest snow with +2 exposure compensation. The camera will think the snow should be +0 (middle gray) which would underexpose it. Since we know the snow should be white, add 2 stops to make it almost pure white while retaining detail

[PhotographyNut]

So instead of setting the exposure to -1, I should be setting it to +2? That is definitely not what I would expect to do but I will give it a try next time.

[i speak in math]

Originally Posted by PhotographyNut

So instead of setting the exposure to -1, I should be setting it to +2? That is definitely not what I would expect to do but I will give it a try next time.

yep, and spot meter off the brightest snow

[dcclark]

Originally Posted by PhotographyNut

So instead of setting the exposure to -1, I should be setting it to +2? That is definitely not what I would expect to do but I will give it a try next time.

Try it and see next time. As we've said several times, there is no single right answer, it's all situational!

Your camera's meter tries to determine what medium-bright white (often called "18% grey") is in a scene, and meters for that. A very bright scene with lots of white will mess the meter up and make it think that the bright snow should be the "18% grey" -- so it will actually underexpose. Sometimes, that is, and depending on your meter.

[PhotographyNut]

Thanks all for the tips which I will definitely try next time.
I've gotta battle trying different camera settings and my wife's patience