Through the Woods on Christmas Day

[terrib]

We actually managed to get a little snow late on Christmas day and we took the back roads home looking for photo ops. I took this shot and am fairly pleased with the composition but I had a heck of a time in PP with the white balance. I tend to leave my camera on Daylight WB but I shoot in RAW so I don't worry too much about it. So this started out with a pretty significant blue cast as I would expect but I never could seem to find the right place to adjust. Finally I gave up and converted to B&W. There is so little color in the scene that the difference is pretty subtle to me.

Anyway, I'd love comments on both the WB issue in the color version and also since I don't do much B&W, I'm wondering how you think it turned out. I don't even know where to begin an assessment. The main thing I did in PP for the B&W was to first change the WB to "cloudy" and because it then had what I thought was a green cast, I used a green filter when converting.

[terrib]

Funny - now looking at it here, the B&W version seems to have a pink cast.

[JPS]

Terri,
the B&W conversion looks good to me. I'm sure the experts in B&W, like Donald will be able to advise you further.
Well done.
John

[tbob]

I just colour corrected my monitor so with some confidence I can say; looks good to me. Any colour cast is too subtle for my 58 year old eyes to detect.. Maybe ask a Japanese pearl grader; I gather they are brilliant at subtle shades.

As for correcting; I use Aperture but I suspect you might have a similar tool in photoshop. I pick out a "truly: white spot and use the WHITE white balance eye dropper to correct. Sometimes the resut is hideous. Then quit. Snow is really really good at picking up reflected sky and surrounding colours, so if it is slightly nonwhite; so what.

Despite the fact I am beginning to tire of snow (only three and one half four months till spring thaw here) i really like these. Nice overarching trees emphasizing the pathway

[terrib]

Thank you John and Trevor for taking the time to comment. I've not yet gone the way of calibrating my monitor so it's good to hear from someone who has.

Trevor, I can imagine the snow would get old after a while especially if you have to shovel the driveway. We often go all winter without any snow so to get some on Christmas day was nice.

[Mike Buckley]

Beautiful images, Terri! No color cast issues on my calibrated monitor. I'm a bit surprised to see black-and-white coming from your computer , though it's very well done.

Some possibilities (not necessarily improvements) to consider with the black-and-white version: Think of Donald's low-contrast style (not that that's his only style) and see if it works with this scene. Consider darkening the tracks in the snow just a little bit.

Your photography is just too good for you not to be calibrating your monitor. On the other hand, based on all of your images that I've seen, your monitor apparently is working quite well. Even though you've been very lucky so far, it may not continue to hold out.

The Spyder 4 Express is very easy to use. Once I got it initially configured, which took all of ten minutes at the most, I calibrate every two weeks and it takes only three minutes to do it. My current setup has a significant green cast and reduced contrast without the calibration.

I assume the Auto White Balance on your 7D is as effective as on my D7000 and D5100, as they are the same technology generation. If so, I recommend leaving it on Auto unless you have a specific reason to change it. The Auto configuration works so well on my cameras that I have had to adjust the results only in two or three images.

[Mike Buckley]

By the way, I remember years ago when it snowed in Houston on Christmas Eve, which was a Saturday. CNN reported that a minister asked a simple question at church the next day: If you don't believe in miracles, how do you explain snow in Houston on Christmas Eve?

[Steve S]

Nice image terri. Here you go, color corrected (at least the best i can do)...............a little more contrast..............a little more saturation..............a touch more sharpening...............Played with the lighting a bit (light was kind of flat, so i added a couple vignettes)

[terrib]

Thanks Mike for all your comments. Well, you know it wasn't much of a leap on this one to get to B&W.

I will go back and review some of Donald's images. (I do hope he and his Dad are feeling better!) I'll do some rework on the image tomorrow.

I'll get to Spyder at some point - one expense at a time.

Thanks for the reminder about Auto WB. I wasn't really happy with it on my XSi but I should give the 7D a chance!

[terrib]

Thanks very much, Steve, for taking the time to edit, post and explain your suggested changes. I do like what you've done. I'll see if I can replicate. I always worry about taking sharpening too far but you've definitely improved the image. Thanks again!