snow problem

[Dave Miller]

I don't mind being pounced on; occassionally, especially when I deserve it. You must admit that it serves to wake up the lurkers here abouts. Any way what's two stops between friends?
Thinking about that, it's four stops isn't it. Mmmm, better crawl off again before I get pounced on.

 

[Dave Miller]

Closing down two stops will put the snow around zone III. You should open up three stops for zone VIII snow.

May be I like zone III snow; sniff!

 

[Lee L]

Dave,

The whole point of the Zone System was to give the photographer creative control of the process, and allow the photographer to interpret the scene as previsualized. You could have intended to have Zone III snow to create a certain visual effect, or you could have been going for an N+5 expansion to increase local contrast in the snow in flat light. Or maybe you only have a huge stash of grade 6 in your favorite discontinued paper. Don't let anyone second-guess your artistic intent or integrity.


Besides, I'm sure we've all missed a few stops along the way.

Lee

 

[rbarker]

. . . Any way what's two stops between friends?
. . .

Doesn't that depend on the two pubs at which we stop?

 

[roteague]

Thinking about that, it's four stops isn't it. Mmmm, better crawl off again before I get pounced on.

Don't worry Dave, my suggestion was ignored too.

 

[Woolliscroft]

All white people carry an approximate grey card around with them. It's called your hand. If you take the light reading of your skin it will be approximately correct for snow in the same light. It is a useful trick for a lot of exposure problems. For dark skin the palm is still light so it might work, but I'm not in a position to test. Otherwise I find 2 stops bias is a bit much. I'd go for 1.5 to 1 2/3 and, yes, a mild yellow filter.

David.

 

[dancqu]

... with a Wratten 47 (blue) and the shadows popped out perfectly.

Very blue that 47. I'd worry about color fidelity; black reds and
greens and everything in between. A good example though of
contrast control through use of a filter. Perhaps a light cyan
or magenta would help to preserve color fidelity and let
the blue through. Dan

 

[dr bob]

Very blue that 47. I'd worry about color fidelity; black reds and
greens and everything in between. A good example though of
contrast control through use of a filter. Perhaps a light cyan
or magenta would help to preserve color fidelity and let
the blue through. Dan

Quite right! When I began to photograph, about 60 years ago, I used orth film and usually had good results. If I had a cyan filter it would have been used to make the image in question. The point is the use of a blue reducing filter may not always be the best choice depending on the circumstances. Sunlit snow scenes usually have high contrast to begin with so I don't see the point of increasing it further.

I think the best advise given is to open aperture 1-1/2 to 2 stops to record the shadow detail then reduce development to control the negative contrast and highlights. And always think!