Why does snow photos always look blueish?

3 years 3 months ago #709780 by NickSano
I have my white balance set to auto, yet my photos always in post look blueish.  Why is that? 


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3 years 3 months ago #709784 by Nikon Shooter
This, Nick, has to do with the light metering and the 18% average
reflection readout but nothing to do with WB — auto WB is ok.

The light meter is tune to 18% reflected light but the snow is way
more reflective : +/- 80%. So, to have a correct exposure, one u-
ses an EV+ (in your case) to compensate the tricky light condition
for the metre.

In film times, the rule of thumb was EV +1,5 ~+ 2 BUT protect your
whites by making sure you're not going too far — always have a look
at your best friend: the histogram. Have a good time! :P

Light is free… capturing it is not!
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3 years 3 months ago #709785 by Nikon Shooter
ADDENDUM

The snow reflects what it sees. If it sees a blue sky, the blue is lost
in the bright light of the Sun. If it sees a grey sky, it will less of a pro-
blem since there are little chances of bright sunlight but will require
some EV compensation nevertheless.

Light is free… capturing it is not!
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3 years 3 months ago #709793 by Ozzie_Traveller
G'day Nick

Our mate NS has hit the issue in one .... the camera is affected in the same way that your eyes are affected. Your eyes see the very bright scene and you put on sunnies to protect your eyes - and the camera closes down the exposure to "protect" the scene ~ and in doing so, your image when you finally see it on the computer screen appears dark / grey / bluish etc.

We need to contradict the camera and rebalance the exposure by over-exposing the scene. Sounds odd, but there it is. If you have not set the histogram to 'on', pop into the setup menu and turn it 'on' - then once out in the landscape, have a sqwiz at the histogram regularly to add or subtract exposure as needed.

(ps- it also happens for street scenes at night - the camera tries to lighten the darkness of the scene, thus blowing out the highlights ... so we need to under-expose the street scene at night)

Hope this helps
Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

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3 years 2 months ago #709806 by Pete Franko
If you don't get it right in camera, that is easy fix in post.  Just adjust white balance warmer in Light Room.


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3 years 2 months ago #709878 by H Rocky
:agree:  or move to cloud WB setting in camera 


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3 years 2 months ago #709884 by Nikon Shooter

H Rocky wrote: … or move to cloud WB setting in camera 


Pete is right. WB being the less critical parameter prior to SR,
leave it on auto and, eventually, use a grey card. I got myself
on that has the same size than a bank card… always with me.

Light is free… capturing it is not!
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3 years 2 months ago #709939 by fmw

Pete Franko wrote: If you don't get it right in camera, that is easy fix in post.  Just adjust white balance warmer in Light Room.


I have to disagree here.  Nikon shooter had the right answer and that is underexposure.  Your camera's light meter recommends an exposure setting designed to put things at an average medium gray level.  The metering system tries to put the snow at medium gray as well so your camera underexposes the subject.  When shooting snow scenes dial in 1 1/2 to 2 stops additional exposure compensation.

White balance will only mess up any parts of the subject that are not snow..  Exposure compensation is the key.


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3 years 2 months ago #710094 by Ozzie_Traveller
G'day Nick

+1 to fmw above

ps- you can easily experiment with this at home .... lay out a newspaper and photograph an article to read on your screen later.

The result will be an overall grey background with black lettering ~ due to the camera's metering system attempting to 'grey down' the very bright white background. Dial in EV +1 or +1-1/2 stops or even EV +2 stops and see how the newspaper becomes nice 'n bright ............ and that's the same as your snow pic originally

The WB is quite different and is adjusted in-camera for JPG or in-computer if shooting on RAW

Hope this helps
Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

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3 years 2 months ago #710205 by Don Granger
Yep, yep and yep

All fixable with a slide to the right in Lightroom.  


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