Stroll Seen while strolling...walking and wandering outside

[Dean Smith]

Even thought it is decaying, this stump continues to grow.

 

[Dean Smith]

 

[wee-pics]

 

[Nuskyn]

 

[chickenherby]

 

[MoonMind]

M.

 

[wee-pics]

 

[Leica43]

Trolley in a state of “Abandoned Distress”.

 

[chickenherby]

 

[wee-pics]

 

[MoonMind]

Snow slab adrift ...

M.

 

[pdurand]

Snow slab adrift ...

View attachment 242397

M.

Matt, not a critic, just a reminder: you should not trust the metering of your camera when shooting snow. You have to overexpose if you want the snow to be white in your photo.

 

[MoonMind]

Matt, not a critic, just a reminder: you should not trust the metering of your camera when shooting snow. You have to overexpose if you want the snow to be white in your photo.

I know. However, this shot is black and white and very muted/grey for a reason: It was shot under overcast skies and in reality there was a blueish cast throughout the scene. Something like that would actually be fixable in post, but the monochrome version conveys the mood better in this case (IMO). To my eyes, the scene was pretty monochrome (dark, muted - greyish, if you will) as it was ...

I have been hit by the "grey card" bug before - but today, I shot in reduced or strongly directional and naturally tinted light, so I saw no reason to "whiten" the scenes. In bright light (in which I don't like to shoot snow anyway), I'd generally agree - one has to beat the built-in grey card feel created by averaged metering somehow - use ETTR (or highlight preservation metering modes) or simply overexpose on purpose (as little as 2/3 of a stop change things). On the other hand, you can bring things back up in post when shooting RAW by setting the white balance and then the white point accordingly (and adjusting the curves if necessary) - this allows (in most cases) for better detail conservation than straight overexposure, but it's often complicated to balance - fiddly, too. I just don't like to lose too much in the highlights on general principle - as most of my cameras cope way better with shadow recovery (the Leica bodies have terrible highlight preservation anyway; in short, what's blown is gone).

All in all, as indicated, I usually try to avoid having to shoot snow with the sun up high - it's not the most favourable light in any case, and overexposing brightly lit snow just tends to blow out things all over the place. I've had that happen to me up in the moutains several times. That's why I'm often in the woods during the winter throughout the day, with the light filtering through or highlighting details up high.

Whatever - you're right, I should probably care more for those pure whites ... I'll try to show them a bit more love this winter.

M.

 

[wee-pics]

 

[tonyturley]

You guys have been posting some interesting images. It has been cold and overcast the past few days, so with the flat light, I've been limiting myself to my daily submissions from the workshop. It is still cold this morning, but the sun is out of hiding. I'm resisting the urge to go and get more squirrel and songbird pics.

 

[MoonMind]

You guys have been posting some interesting images. It has been cold and overcast the past few days, so with the flat light, I've been limiting myself to my daily submissions from the workshop. It is still cold this morning, but the sun is out of hiding. I'm resisting the urge to go and get more squirrel and songbird pics.

Tony, do get them - I like them whenever I get to see them!

Today was another very uninspiring day - very dull and overcast. I had hoped for a better opportunity to check out the new-to-me tiny zoom for the V1, but I really didn't find much ... but this fits:

Some of those rose are really tough ...

M.

 

[Nuskyn]

 

[wee-pics]

 

[tonyturley]

View attachment 242526

Very nice. Only once have I been able to get that close to a Heron; usually they fly away when I'm much farther away.

 

[christilou]

Local Vicarage ....... rather nice!