Went East with Tim to find some of these wonderful animals, Had a blast in the cold and the snow, what could be better than being outside, good friends and majestic animals.
This was my first time shooting dark animals in the snow and I realized that just because the animal may for the most part be properly exposed you have to as well compensate for the snow, which to be candid, I didn't do very well....Lesson learned and to all those that shoot in the snow often, I have new found respect for the details you extract and the images that you produce
I hope that my mistakes will help someone else out.. I probably should have been at least one f-stop higher on most of these if not a higher shutter speed as well
Larry I think your exposures and settings are pretty good. 1st is ISO 500, 1/1000, f7. They just need some work in photoshop to bring out the snow. S curve/black up/white down/centre pegged. Then shadows/highlights with more work on highlights and the snow will come out.
I agree that snow is tough but there is not much you can do about it - if you expose for snow, then the animal is too dark. So I use centre dot exposure on animal and check histogram to make sure not too much is blinking in snow but tolerate a bit of blinking. Direction of the light is very critical with snow so keeping it behind you helps.
These are good but your bighorns are much skinnier than my bighorns. They must be having a thick snow season.
Hi Larry, wow, those are some high contrast scenes. I guess you are referring to getting the sheep in proper exposure and still have some detail in the snow?? The sheep do look like they are exposed properly. Would you have to underexpose then bring up the sheep and snow separately to try and keep some detail?
Wow, that old guy in #2 sure is busted up and the last ram looks like he has the mange or something, definitely not good. The two on the mound is a cute shot and the ewe in the first shot is either well fed or expecting, though it seems early in the year for her to be showing.
Good shooting Larry, and yes, shooting animals/birds against the snow can be problematic. Good advise from Scott regarding exposure against the snow. Looks like it was a rewarding outing for both you and Tim.
Scott Stoness wrote:
Nice series. I like 1 best. 2 2nd best.
Larry I think your exposures and settings are pretty good. 1st is ISO 500, 1/1000, f7. They just need some work in photoshop to bring out the snow. S curve/black up/white down/centre pegged. Then shadows/highlights with more work on highlights and the snow will come out.
I agree that snow is tough but there is not much you can do about it - if you expose for snow, then the animal is too dark. So I use centre dot exposure on animal and check histogram to make sure not too much is blinking in snow but tolerate a bit of blinking. Direction of the light is very critical with snow so keeping it behind you helps.
These are good but your bighorns are much skinnier than my bighorns. They must be having a thick snow season.
Thanks for the Picks, the critiques and the suggestions, I really do appreciate it, I was using spot and was thinking that I should have been a little more in the middle between the snow and the animal so that the recovery of the snow would be a touch easier.. I very rarely use curves but will certainly experiment with them more.. again, thanks for the tips
Lar
hnilsson wrote:
Lar, the bighorn look perfectly exposed on my monitor.
Great shots. Bet you had a fun day with GP.
H
Thanks Henrik, I'm glad you think so! We had a blast, I just hope that next time there isn't quite as much snow on the shale, giving the opportunity to get up into the canyons a bit more would have added a lot more to the trip
Lar
DesertBighorn wrote:
Hi Larry, wow, those are some high contrast scenes. I guess you are referring to getting the sheep in proper exposure and still have some detail in the snow?? The sheep do look like they are exposed properly. Would you have to underexpose then bring up the sheep and snow separately to try and keep some detail?
Wow, that old guy in #2 sure is busted up and the last ram looks like he has the mange or something, definitely not good. The two on the mound is a cute shot and the ewe in the first shot is either well fed or expecting, though it seems early in the year for her to be showing.
Yeah, depending on the area, we had a fair amount of glare/high contrast..Yes, I was referring to attempting to find a little happier medium than what I did, Yes, I think they would have been better had I underexposed the sheep a touch further, brought them up and had additional detail shadowing in the snow to work with.
It was hard for me to tell on the one in the grass, whether he had Mange or had gotten attacked by a cougar or something...The first ewe in the canyon I think it was as much the angle as anything, but she for sure didn't looked hungry
Lar
Dave Good wrote:
Good shooting Larry, and yes, shooting animals/birds against the snow can be problematic. Good advise from Scott regarding exposure against the snow. Looks like it was a rewarding outing for both you and Tim.
Dave
Thanks David, it was a lot of fun
I would really like to go back over soon! I know where another herd is
Lar
and to all those that shoot in the snow often, I have new found respect for the details you extract and the images that you produce