Winter Wedding- question about postprocessing and shooting - How to maximize the results?

[ronny1]

<p>Happy New Year to you all!<br /> I was shooting yesterday formals with B&G in a forest covered with snow. <br /> The light was doll, it was misty and cold.<br /> I was wondering how would you approach this setting.<br /> Just to give you an idea I'm submitting one of the images<br /> In your opinion was the photo exposed correctly?<br /> Would be there a better way do to it?<br /> How can i maximize the results in post processing?<br /> Thanx</p><div></div>

[cliff_henry]

<p>Ronny,<br>

Your image appears to be underexposed, at least on my monitor. This is not unusual in a snow scene. If you meter a snow scene you need to overexpose 1 ~ 1.5 stops. Given the dark trees in about half of your scene maybe +.75 exposure would have helped. I would have used a flash to fill the scene and compensated the flash +1 because of all the white which would have caused the flash to shut down to soon.<br>

Last week I shot my son's wedding at a ski resort in CO. The attached image is a scan of Portra 160, metered at 100. Camera was not compensated, evaluative metering, but flash was compensated to + 1.5 because of the stronge side lighting and the snow. Note the whites are white not gray as in your image. <br>

</p>

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[cliff_henry]

<p>Oops! Caption should read: 1V, 24-70L, AV mode, flash compensated +1.5, Portra 160 @100</p>

[ronny1]

<p>Cliff,<br>

Thank you for your post.<br>

Also on my screen my posted image appears underexposed and somewhat gray. especially when compared to yours.<br>

Though when I view the same (my) image directly from my HD, it looks totally different and much more appealing I may say!<br>

I've used 5d and a 50mm lens ISO 160 f:4 1/250</p>

<p> </p>

[francie_baltazar]

<p>it looks under exposed to me as well - what I do in scenes like this is get the correct exposure when there are no people in the photo. I would have spot meter on the snow... let the trees go dark... then used fill flash to illuminate the couple... you can do some fix in PS - lasso the couple - then use the under select choose feather and I would set it to 10 or 15 - then under- image - adjustments - curves - lighten them up a bit... however if you a lot to do this will be time consuming... love the setting - we don't get that down here in southern texas... nice to see...</p>

[cjogo]

<p>RONNY : Use that hand meter & fill that strobe ....geeze it was near 80* again yesterday, 'round here. I knew there was a reason I moved West > so many years ago .</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Your image does look a bit underexposed, but not by much. Certainly not so much that quality is affected. In post, in addition to lifting the general exposure, I would play with the clarity, contrast and possibly vibrance controls in Lightroom, but not so much that you lose the subtle white tones, which is very appealing. Also possibly the white balance--they look cold.</p>

[ronny1]

<p>Nadine and Francie : I'll give it a try both in PS and Lightroom -> see where it gets faster/better.<br>

C Jo : I'm gelious ->I come from a warm country though at the moment I live in the Netherlands...I'm freezing here....</p>

[cjogo]

<p>RONNY : Nothing colder than Sneak or Urk in the Winter</p>

[think27]

<p>Cliff, I personally think there is too much flash in the example you uploaded here. I would have just popped a little fill. </p>

<p>The shot Ronny took needs a little fill as well, but - tweaked in PS I think it looks great. Sometimes too much flash can ruin the mood.</p>

[think27]

<p>Cliff - Congrats on your son's wedding. Just want to say I think the flash should be light fill even in snow. I shot in Vermont for 10 years and agree with overexposing a stop. Hope you don't mind me saying that I think your flash was too much in the above shot. </p>

<p>I think Ronny's shot would have been better with slight overexposure but flash was not needed here as the sun on the snow is often enough to provide natural fill. Flash would have created shadows on the snow and would (in my humble opinion) ruin the mood.</p><div></div>

[think27]

<p>PS Ronny - I think it's a sweet shot.</p>

[ronny1]

<p>Mary: The image looks much better now<br>

and thanks for the positive feedback-> I'm new to wedding photography, so positive feedback is encouraging.</p>

<p>C Jo: oops...gelious shoud read -> <em>jealous</em> ...as you can see English is not my mother tongue</p>

[think27]

<p>It is really easy and it could have been even brighter but I didn't want to ruin the mood that is here by making it too bright. All you have to do is open it in Photoshop, "image" drop down menu, "Adjustments" and then click on "Shadow Highlight" and play with the slider bars. Took 2 seconds.</p>

[cliff_henry]

<p>Mary, I don't mind at all - different opinions is what makes a horse race.</p>

<p>I agree that Ronny's shot is a nice mood shot, especially after you tweaked it. </p>

<p>My posted shot is a low res scan from Portra 160 that I had made for proofs when the lab processed the film. I also needed to email some shots to the bride's family. I have not made any adjustments in PS. I don't know if prints from the negatives will be the same as the posted image. All of my final prints for the album will be made from the negatives by the lab.<br>

Cliff</p>

[anna_p.2]

<p>Just wanted to say that I love that picture, it's so romantic! I wish I had a shot like that from my wedding!</p>