Of course those of us who are on the east coast of the US this week are going to have same I challenge I do if they are taking their pics outside - SNOW!
The high contrast situation of snow pics is making me a little nuts. I have the challenge that the details of the snow come out overexposed if I set my light on the color subject; and the color subject comes out underexposed if I get the snow detail. I wind up slightly underexposing the pic, and adjusting the light in Photoshop later every time.
Unfortunately when it comes to high contrast scenes like you get with snow you'll have to make a bit of a sacrifice. You'll want to meter the part of the scene that's most important and realize that something else will likely be over or under exposed as a result. The camera just can't adequately handle the high dynamic range in a single exposure. One way to help the camera out a bit is to use spot metering instead of a broader evaluative or average metering.
If you have a GND filter that can help as you can then use that to stop down the bright snow so it is balanced better with the rest of the darker parts of the image. Another option is to take bracketed exposures and then combine them later in post.
Also, avoid the harsh mid-day sun and wait for some overcast conditions or early morning/late evening when the lighting is better.
Finally, try setting your exposure compensation +1 stop or so. If there's too much snow in the scene the camera gets fooled and will expose it to try to achieve an 18% gray instead of the white it really is.
Yeah, it can be a bit counterintuitive. The snow is bright so you want to underexpose to compensate, but the camera is already adjusting the exposure because it wants to make everything gray. That's why you see so many snow shots that when aren't processed, take on a very dull, grayish blue tone.
So I'd start with a little exposure compensation, and then if you can, shoot bracketed shots for a while to see if one of those come out better than the original and then you can look at the shot data and see what works best and can adjust accordingly.
Yep, this is a great opportunity. That is exactly what I did a few weeks ago with this snowy scene. Here is the original that I exposed to bring out the sky, which I thought was the best part of the scene. Obviously, that wouldn't expose everything properly: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marubozo/5304428961/
I always underexpose with snow and do some post processing. My photo for today is of the snow from this morning (fellow East Coaster here!) if you wanted to check it out!
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If you have a GND filter that can help as you can then use that to stop down the bright snow so it is balanced better with the rest of the darker parts of the image. Another option is to take bracketed exposures and then combine them later in post.
Also, avoid the harsh mid-day sun and wait for some overcast conditions or early morning/late evening when the lighting is better.
Finally, try setting your exposure compensation +1 stop or so. If there's too much snow in the scene the camera gets fooled and will expose it to try to achieve an 18% gray instead of the white it really is.
So I'd start with a little exposure compensation, and then if you can, shoot bracketed shots for a while to see if one of those come out better than the original and then you can look at the shot data and see what works best and can adjust accordingly.
Good luck!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marubozo/5304428961/
But I just bracketed 2 stops and did a little HDR on it and the final result really came through:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marubozo/5305022330/