I think this is just an issue of terminology. In photography, "overexpose" or "overexposed" generally means that you are clipping highlight detail. [1]
I think what you mean is "expose to the right", or "use positive auto exposure compensation". I find in snow that +.7 or +1 tends to be what you want, while being careful not to clip the highlight detail. Then you can use the techniques described by others in this thread to increase the global and/or local contrast of the highlights of the image to increase the visibility of the detail in the snow. Cheers, Rob [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_(photography)#Overexposure_and_underexposure On 08/01/15 13:11, Richard Levitte wrote: > Hmm? > > Depending on what you want, of course... but if you meter the snow, > you need to overexpose to have it become white. If you meter against > a grey card, you'd get proper exposure. > > But again, that depends on what kind of picture you're looking for. > > In message <54a9f4ae.6070...@cox.net> on Sun, 04 Jan 2015 18:19:26 -0800, > john <w...@cox.net> said: > > wub> On 01/04/2015 03:05 PM, Jim Coleman wrote: > wub> > wub> I haven't taken snow pictures since the old film days, but I believe you > may have meant > wub> "underexpose" not overexpose. It's been decades, but I feel that the > amount of underexposure > wub> required was substantial, if I wanted to be able to see footprints and > other snow surface details > wub> - 4 or 5 stops relative to a light meter reading from a neutral gray > card? > wub> > wub> -John Hill > wub> > wub> Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2015 18:04:44 -0500 > wub> From: James <midnightcomman...@gmail.com> > wub> Subject: Re: [Darktable-users] How do people process pictures with > wub> lots of snow? > wub> To: Chris Siebenmann <c...@cs.toronto.edu> > wub> Cc: darktable-users <darktable-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > wub> Message-ID: > wub> > <ca+zvbs3snonw6e1d78munj95cmzz6isf5uv85cmoqr++7th...@mail.gmail.com> > wub> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > wub> > wub> I've found I've had the most success with snow (or anything much brighter > wub> than neutral grey) by overexposing and and bracketing. Makes > post-exposure > wub> processing much easier. > wub> > wub> Jim Coleman > wub> Upsala '75 > wub> http://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescoleman > wub> http://www.flickr.com/photos/jecoleman/sets > wub> <http://www.flickr.com/photos/jecoleman> > wub> > wub> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 5:56 PM, Chris Siebenmann <c...@cs.toronto.edu> > wrote: > wub> > wub> > What I've found over time is that pictures with significant amounts > wub> > of snow in them are my nemesis as far as getting things to look right > wub> > in processing, and now I'm wondering if other darktable users have any > wub> > particular tricks or ideas. > wub> > wub> > In real life, snow around here typically registers to my eyes as both > wub> > fairly bright white and having plenty of details (often both large > wub> > scale, such as footprints, and small scale texture and so on). But when > wub> > I process my pictures, I'm almost never successfull at getting the snow > wub> > bright enough that it feels white and like *snow* while preserving > wub> > detail and texture in it. If I get it bright enough that it looks like > wub> > snow, the details vanish (even if I try relatively strained processing > wub> > in eg the zone module); if I prioritize trying to preserve details, > wub> > generally the snow comes out looking grey and wrong and not > infrequently > wub> > the details don't separate anyways. > wub> > wub> > So: do people have tricks they use when processing snow pictures? > wub> > Should I be looking at eg the equalizer module and its clarity preset > to > wub> > really exaggerate contrast edges in my snow pictures? > wub> > wub> > Thanks in advance for any advice, hints, etc. > wub> > wub> > - cks > wub> > wub> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > wub> > Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, > wub> > sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is > wub> > your > wub> > hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought > wub> > leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. > Take a > wub> > look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net > wub> > _______________________________________________ > wub> > Darktable-users mailing list > wub> > Darktable-users@lists.sourceforge.net > wub> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/darktable-users > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, > sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your > hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought > leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a > look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net > _______________________________________________ > Darktable-users mailing list > Darktable-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/darktable-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net _______________________________________________ Darktable-users mailing list Darktable-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/darktable-users
