Four-legged gray card

[Meanderthal]

Getting the exposure right for dogs in snow has been a challenge for me. When stationary, I have had modest success in Manual mode and metering off a handy evergreen tree. On a woodland trail with my dog, however, the light changes so often that by the time I get the manual settings right, the dog is gone. Today, in frustration, I dreamed of gluing a grey card on my poor dog's rear end and fixing the exposure in PP. Unfortunately, the images would generally be more that a full stop under-exposed, resulting in rather pixelated images.

It then dawned on me that my dog is approximately medium grey. I used Tv mode and spot metered off the dog, and my exposures improved dramatically. Better yet, I found that in taking pictures of scenery I could quickly meter off the dog either in Tv or Av mode and lock the exposure with the AE (*) button.

Two versions of an image are shown. The first is what I would get by using the full auto, "Green" mode (simulated by adjusting to Auto in PS). The second is in Tv mode, spot metering off the dog. The latter is as it came out of the camera, resized and compressed.

Has any of you found such a procedure work for you and if so, what settings do you use? Any other ideas?

[Adam Jones]

I would recommend using exposure compensation if you're shooting in creative modes like Tv or Av. Try +1 or even +2.

Sean McHugh over at Cambridge in Colour:

Exposure compensation is ideal for correcting in-camera metering errors caused by the subject's reflectivity. No matter what metering mode is used, an in-camera light meter will always mistakenly under-expose a subject such as a white dove in a snowstorm (see incident vs. reflected light). Photographs in the snow will always require around +1 exposure compensation, whereas a low-key image may require negative compensation.

[Meanderthal]

Thank you, a good idea in stationery circumstances. Manual works for me then, but that's a matter of personal preference. I'm looking for ideas when the light changes too frequently to use either M or exposure compensation.

[Gatorboy]

Your camera is trying to meter for 18% gray -- so when it sees white snow, it wants to meter it gray. Use about +0.7 EC when in the snow. Similar to shooting a bride in white.

[WideOpen]

+1 on the EC. And don't chop your poor dog's paws off!! :lol:

[Adam Jones]

Thank you, a good idea in stationery circumstances. Manual works for me then, but that's a matter of personal preference. I'm looking for ideas when the light changes too frequently to use either M or exposure compensation.

Well, it might sound ridiculous but you could practice "metering with your eyes." Some photogs swear by it. I would imagine it just takes a lot of trial and error.

[svarley]

use expsure compensation and look at the histogram.

Might also help to fix the WB, it looks a little blue.

[Meanderthal]

Thank you, svarley. Good ideas when there is time for EC and a peek at the histogram. In snow, though, the histogram is difficult to use, being overly high key. Yes, i do my best in PP to fix the WB.