Ski Boy

[amy_bb]

Hi all,

This pic was taken of my son during the first week of ski race training. Here is my dilemma. I set a custom WB before shooting. I shot in RAW. The light was very flat. I edited the RAW photo for WB, exposure and vibrancy. I then pushed it into PSE8 and cropped and played with the exposure and contrast again. I'm happy with the focus for the most part (always figure if I can read the words on the skis then I did OK) but my dilemma is that this is actually how the light looked that day on the hill (gray day). Do I just accept that this photo is a representation of the light that day or do I do something else to brighten it up? If I brighten it too much, it looks overexposed. Also, on a day that is gray, how do I get some of the detail on the snow (i.e. some ski tracks or grooming marks).

TIA for you help. If I can nail this now, I will take much better shots during the race season.



Camera Sony DSLR-A330
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1600)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 250 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[lil red bird]

Nice shot!
I understand your issue and have no insights to offer.
nice 18% grey though

[RLucas]

As a general rule, in scenes that are primarily white, the camera's meter will try to force you to underexpose. You will either need to overexpose by a stop or 11/2 stops to get a "correct" exposure, or if you shoot in one of the priority modes, you will need to bump your exposure compensation to get the correct exposure.
On scenes like this when the lighting is flat, I have to do all the global adjustments and then use the burn tool on ruts and tracks to give some more depth and shadow detail.
Here is an example. I used the burn tool over the shoe tracks that lead up to the truck, and also on the sides of the frame to bring out the texture of the snow. I started with a really low opacity soft brush, like 5% or so, and worked my way up as needed.
I hope this helps!

[amy_bb]

Originally Posted by RLucas

As a general rule, in scenes that are primarily white, the camera's meter will try to force you to underexpose. You will either need to overexpose by a stop or 11/2 stops to get a "correct" exposure, or if you shoot in one of the priority modes, you will need to bump your exposure compensation to get the correct exposure.
On scenes like this when the lighting is flat, I have to do all the global adjustments and then use the burn tool on ruts and tracks to give some more depth and shadow detail.
Here is an example. I used the burn tool over the shoe tracks that lead up to the truck, and also on the sides of the frame to bring out the texture of the snow. I started with a really low opacity soft brush, like 5% or so, and worked my way up as needed.
I hope this helps!

Ahhh.....the dodge and burn tools. These totally puzzle me as I'm very much a newbie on the editing front. I can't wait to begin my PS class at the local photo gallery in a couple of weeks.

This sounds like just what I'm looking for and will give me a good opportunity to practice on a ski training pic (instead of a race day pic). I was on shutter priority mode and figured I'd adjust the exposure on the RAW pic rather than worry about it in camera (the light kept changing and the skiiers kept skiing).

[RLucas]

Shutter priority is good in situations like this, especially if the light is changing constantly. Also, if the light was changing as much as you say, you may also want to change to AWB mode, instead of making a custom white balance, since that is only based off your first frame.
Ideally, you want good cross lighting late in the day to bring out more shadows across the snow, but since this is an event, I highly doubt that would be likely.
Get to know the dodge and burn tools. They can be a godsend in situations like this.

[dlambert]

Would a polarizing filter have helped here?

[Chris Mroz]

Amy- I have taken many shots of my own son ski racing and after much trial and error figured out a few tips. Since you are shooting at bright snow your light meter will tell the camera to close the aperture or slow the shutter to let in more light. I change my settings to manual and meter off my hand, i.e. I hold my hand in the light and see what my settings are. Then I set those and it should get 'normal' skin tones. One could also try over and under exposing by a stop or to. One other thing is I try this out on another racer and check my LCD so when my son comes through I hopefully have worked out the correct settings. It's tense as you get one shot! Good luck.

[amy_bb]

Originally Posted by Chris Mroz

Amy- I have taken many shots of my own son ski racing and after much trial and error figured out a few tips. Since you are shooting at bright snow your light meter will tell the camera to close the aperture or slow the shutter to let in more light. I change my settings to manual and meter off my hand, i.e. I hold my hand in the light and see what my settings are. Then I set those and it should get 'normal' skin tones. One could also try over and under exposing by a stop or to. One other thing is I try this out on another racer and check my LCD so when my son comes through I hopefully have worked out the correct settings. It's tense as you get one shot! Good luck.

Thanks for the tips! The light was very flat and gray and the white snow/flat light was giving me a very blah photo. I usually do OK when we have a brighter day but the gray days give me fits.

Whenever I go to races I try and catch all of our team kids. It usually figures that the best shots I get are of someone else's kids Sometimes I will even shoot random racers just to get the best settings/positions. I think on gray days I have to remember to go full manual and overexpose by a stop or two. I also tend to "spray and pray" with focus on getting the best shots as they are rounding a gate.
My camera does NOT handle high ISO very well so I usually have to do quite a bit of noise reduction in PP.
It is a very tense situation as your balancing the desire for a good photo with shaky hands (I do use a monopod), cold temps, major adrenaline and a typical parent's worry that the kid will fall or get hurt.
Super fun, though and I'm looking forward to getting back at it with my older son's first race of the season on Saturday.

What is the difference between a UV filter and a Polarizing filter?

[dlambert]

A UV filter cuts out light that's past the visible spectrum, so for our purposes, it's really little more than protective glass. A polarizing filter (many digital cameras need a circular polarizer, by the way) is designed to cut reflected light, which can reduce glare. There's a chance that you might pick up more detail in the snow this way, but if you're already struggling to keep your shutter speed up without bumping your ISO, the polarizing filter is definitely not going to be your friend (it'll cut a stop or two of available light).

Out of curiosity, I did a quick search on polarizers and snow, and there's definitely no consensus opinion about whether this helps or not:

Let It Snow, Let it Snow: Top Tips for Cool Snow Shots | The Digital Photo Experience
Polarizing filter for snow - Photo.net Nature Forum
Camera Filter guide
winter lecture