Winter Wonderland

This was taken at Roan Mountain, TN where there was a foot and a half of snow. Tell me what you think.

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Greetings!

Well,

For me, the blue cast takes away from the shot. That should be the first thing corrected. Also, I would like to see more contrast (especially lighter lights) in the snow and trees.

As far as the actual subject goes, it does not do much for me as I don't see enough of the road to signify a journey - BUT that is mostly a matter of taste, and if you liked it enough to shoot it, who am I to say.

Rad

It's a bit dark. It looks like you metered for the brightest part of the shot. Plus there's a blueish tint to the snow.

An "auto color correction" in something like Photoshop Elements 3 should help a lot. You can also lighten shadows some in the same program.

If you would be interested in seeing what I did to correct some of the issues, please turn on the "Image Editing OK" preference in UserCP

Rad

Here is the most recent version, I think I got it to the way I wanted it to be and what everyone else was saying would look good. What do you think?

Sorry that no one mentioned it before, but someone has to. The guidelines for this forum limit the maximum dimension to 800 pixels. The idea is to make sure the images will fit on everyone's screen without scrolling.

Everyone is nailing you on the blue cast, and this is one of those classic examples where it would have been so much better to soot RAW, because then the color balance could have been done with basically one click, whereas this is your 3rd try and it's still pretty blue for snow. One reason for that is that there was apparently no direct sunlight on the snow. In other words, the snow was being illuminated by the blue sky - not the sun. That means that you are probably doomed to blue snow. Let that be a consideration when taking the shot. It is difficult to convince your brain that the snow is blue and not white, because your brain is compensating. Unfortunately, the camera has no brain and renders it as blue because it is blue.

The composition is very good, the white clouds in the sky were properly placed and the idea was very good. The somewhat out of the ordinary illumination of the snow has worked against you, but it's nonetheless an interesting shot. Next time, think about where the sun is and what illumination your subject is receiving and try not to let your senses compensate and distort what is really there - it's difficult!

Hi Andrew,
I'm absolutely fascinated by snow shots; mainly because it never snows where I live (but we do get some spectacular storms).

I totally agree with Bob about shooting RAW. It gives you much more latitude to correct exposure, but I guess nothing beats getting the exposure right to begin with. Did you use any exposure compensation?

I didn't know you get blue snow unless you have direct sunlight, but it makes sense doesn't it? I wonder if polarisers help?

As for your picture, I find myself wanting to know what's around that corner. Slightly frustrating. Perhaps if you could catch a car with its nose poking around the corner or use your car?

Love the snow on the rustic fence. Please post more snow pictures!

I agree with these comments: for me, the scene lacks immediate foreground interest - the foreground in the shot looks too empty. If for example, on the right- hand side there was some object like a road sign this would overcome that problem.