Snow Pictures

I'm shooting with the Pentax DL. My question
is to everyone about the standard contrast and
saturation settings in the camera.

How would it effected my picture taken at 1/250
f8 in the middle of a blizzard?

Would an adjustment have enabled me to get more
information in the raw file?

thanks
bill

 

I always shoot raw in snow conditions.

 

Boost the EC (Exposure Compensation) as high as you can without getting
excessive blinking blown highlights.

 

I can't speak for Pentax, but normally only aperture + shutter speed + ISO
have any effect on a RAW file. In-camera post-processing settings such as
saturation & contrast (and tint and sharpness etc) are only used when
creating non-raw images.

Cheers,

 

While it is true that post processing does not occur in raw, the chosen
settings (i.e. white balance, color settings incuding levels and color
space, etc) are stored in the raw file. Most viewers will apply these
settings when the raw file is displayed. Somethings that DO effect the
final image are exposure compensation and obviously the mechanical
settings that effect the picture itself.

 

You can get frostbite on important body parts doing that... ;^)

 

That has happened.

 

I can't speak for Pentax, but normally only aperture + shutter speed

Ok. This is what I wanted to know. I process
the pictures with an eye to adjust white balance
and such at home to make a tiff file.

thanks

 

In message <43f6246f$0$782$>,

Yes, but exposure compensation has already affected aperture and/or
shutter speed, so aperture, shutter speed, and ISO alone determine
exposure of any given scene.
--

 

Snow scenes often mean the dynamic range is greater than can be
satisfactorily recorded. By boosting EC until there are just
less than "excessive" blown highlights, one maximizes the dynamic
range that is recorded.

Hence the above one liner is precisely correct for the question
asked. A more generalize discussion of exposing for snow scenes
might put it in better perspective though.

Maximum dynamic range may or may not be suitable for all
situations. If the shadows have important details (for example
when taking a group picture of people standing in direct
sunlight), it might be reasonable to allow what would otherwise
be "excessive" blown highlights. In that case the EC should be
high enough to see a lot of blinking areas in the snow (but not
on the people), or maybe 1/2 to 1 stop higher than "just less
than excessive".

As opposed to that, if the intent is to photograph the texture
of the snow itself, backing off 1/2 to 1 stop from the point
where the snow is blowing out will provide better detail in the
highlights.

It's a judgment call, and also depends on whether it is under
direct sunlight or if it's a cloudy day.