Over exposed self portrait?

[Daytonj6]

This is a self portrait while I was skiing.
I wanted a nice shot of my goggles showing most of my face and a nice reflection with mountains, and I came up with this (eventually).

I think its over exposed on the right side due to the presence of snow

here it is.






heres the in on the fo
Any critique would be nice as I'm going to a different hill for a week soon.

No cropping has been done, only retouched a few blemishes with Photoshop and I selected the visible snow, used the brush to cover it black and changed the blend mode to overlay.
selected the entire image, right clicked added a stroke and then added a water mark as well..

06/02/2010 1:42 pm,
1/160 sec.
f/9.0
+0.0EV
ISO 100
50.0mm prime
Sony A200.

[FallinWoman]

LOVE LOVE LOVE the composition. Very clever!
I am not bothered by the snow, but I am bothered by how dark your face is. Can you select just that part and lighten it a little? To be nit-picky, I also wish the point of your collar was not cut off, but that is minor!

[Daytonj6]

AH crap, thank you for mentioning my colar.
I never noticed that, and I can lighten my face up


Thanks for the tips

[Boyan]

Hi Dayton, there is nothing wrong with completely blowing out the snow behind you because, in this picture, it's just an out-of-focus backdrop (and not the subject of the photograph). The main thing is the exposure of the subject (yourself), and I would actually go up in exposure 3/4 of a stop or so. With limited dynamic ranges of cameras, we often have to choose what we want properly exposed, and I would always go for the subject, or next time you can try using flash to expose the subject, and set the camera exposure to expose for the background. That way you get the best of both worlds :-)

[Daytonj6]

I brought up the brightness of my laptop's screen and find the picture fine exposure wise.

I also checked the original image and it didn't seem bad thought.

[rosserx]

Hi, I think when you're surrounded by snow as you are, you need to take the shot with an ND filter on. Something like an x8 is good in bright snowy environments. You can get good even exposures and it really brings out tonal qualities in colors.

I really like the composition, the way you're looking out into the great yonder and the great yonder is being reflected back. It looks like you're standing in the shade and your face has no contrast and dynamics though. I would use a reflector to get the front of your face better illuminated and create dynamics in your face. You have a great composition here. Keep at it!

[Daytonj6]

Thank you mate!

I will look into a filter (couple different types actually) and I will travel with a pocket sized reflector while I ski


Cheers