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12-20-2010, 04:36 PM   #1
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What is the best settings for using my K10 in white Russia?

I know that it will be very cold, very white but that some buildings will offer beautiful contrast with gold and blue.

Just wondering if there is an "optimal" setting for me to put my K10 on besides the normal "low iso" rule.

12-20-2010, 05:51 PM   #2
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There is no optimal setting, as each scene will require different settings for each effect you are after. For 'white' scenes, though, whether centre weighted or matrix metering, be liberal with your EV compensation - you may need up to +1.5 or +2.0 depending on the lens you're using.

And have a good read about the exposure triad before you go...
12-20-2010, 08:01 PM   #3
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In Russia, white balance sets *you!*

Seriously, don't overcompensate too much. Hit the RAW button for RAW +Jpeg if it's critical, and choose a setting that'll account for it being somewhat bluish, like cloudy daylight setting or one of the presets for colder fake daylight.
12-20-2010, 08:34 PM   #4
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yea, this is in the begginer section because I dont know about weighted or matrix metering... or what EV compensation is lol

What is an Exposure triad? LOL

I will try to google these before I leave

12-20-2010, 08:39 PM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by Ehlacore Quote
yea, this is in the begginer section because I dont know about weighted or matrix metering... or what EV compensation is lol

What is an Exposure triad? LOL

I will try to google these before I leave
OK then.
Put your camera in all the 'green' modes until you have a reasonable grasp of the basics of exposure theory.
Start here: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/photography-articles/23232-learning-basic...echniques.html

Then get out there and practice.
All the best.
12-20-2010, 09:12 PM   #6
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I have been practicing manual mode for a while now.


I am reasonably good at adjusting the iso/f stop and shutter speed accordingly as well as getting better and better at focusing my pentax-m lenses.

What I am looking for is some snow/white and sometimes with contrasting colors specific tips
12-20-2010, 10:04 PM - 1 Like   #7
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Some of the references in the article I posted a link to above does have some information about exposing in bright/snowy conditions.
You can even find more info here: Exposing Snow and Photographing snow with a digital camera

12-21-2010, 09:12 AM   #8
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thanks it is really helpful
12-22-2010, 02:00 AM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by Ratmagiclady Quote
In Russia, white balance sets *you!*
Sounds like an SE veteran.

And after reading about shooting snow, there is always the time-tested method: bracket and chimp. Shoot bracketed exposures and keep the best; and review every shot, and adjust.

Part of the year, I live amidst snow. I hate the stuff. (I grew up in Los Angeles, which very rarely sees white-outs. Three winters in Kansas confirmed my hatred.) I hate photographing the stuff. Polarizing filters, magic-hour light, HDR, IR, bracketing, all help, but I still hate it. My next home should be in Santa Fe, where snow usually stays a respectable distance from town. DOWN WITH SNOW! SUPPORT GLOBAL WARMING! Right...
12-23-2010, 04:20 PM   #10
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Unfortunately, RioRico, global warning does not keep the snow away. It moves it around, as the North American East coast is finding out.

I learned to take pictures in snowy conditions with a Pentax KX (the fully manual film one) and found that metering the snow (nothing else in the viewfinder) and setting the camera to a two stop over exposure worked quite well. With Digital, I can now turn on the blinkies and see if I did it correctly before I get home and find out that I underexposed two stops instead of over exposing.
12-23-2010, 05:16 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by Canada_Rockies Quote
Unfortunately, RioRico, global warning does not keep the snow away. It moves it around, as the North American East coast is finding out.
Quite so. GW doesn't bring warmer weather, but more energetic weather. Bigger and badder storm systems and heat waves and cold waves and uncertainty -- and diminishing glaciers and icecaps. Antarctic winds bring snow to New South Wales in midsummer. Winter tornadoes drop into California. We better hope the oceanic circulation patterns don't collapse. What a pickle...

Meanwhile, I still hate snow. It's something that should be experienced from a safe remove, like rattlesnakes and political rallies. My kids love snowboarding. I prefer body-surfing. Still, I can understand that some pervs like to be in snow, even to photograph it. Aha! I just thought of a way to get good exposures! Use a P&S with SNOW mode. Shoot a scene. Check the EXIF data. Use the same settings on the dSLR. Bracket, of course. See, it's easy as cake! A piece of pie!

NOTE: I drove up from my 3500-foot home to the 7000-foot level below Carson Pass CA yesterday, to view deep drifts from the safe warm enclosure of an AWD car. Pretty, yes. And ice clouds, and sleet, and black ice on the road, and a few spin-outs by flatlanders who don't realize that CA Hwy 88 is NOT the Bayshore Freeway. No, I didn't shoot snow pictures, not in the sleet. Yes, I'm a wuss.

[/me considers the offer of a cheap week in Puerto Vallarta]
12-23-2010, 09:48 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by RioRico Quote
Sounds like an SE veteran.

And after reading about shooting snow, there is always the time-tested method: bracket and chimp. Shoot bracketed exposures and keep the best; and review every shot, and adjust.

Part of the year, I live amidst snow. I hate the stuff. (I grew up in Los Angeles, which very rarely sees white-outs. Three winters in Kansas confirmed my hatred.) I hate photographing the stuff. Polarizing filters, magic-hour light, HDR, IR, bracketing, all help, but I still hate it. My next home should be in Santa Fe, where snow usually stays a respectable distance from town. DOWN WITH SNOW! SUPPORT GLOBAL WARMING! Right...
As far as I know braketing can only be done in JPEG and JPEG quality on this camera is TERRIBLE!
12-24-2010, 08:21 AM   #13
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It is often mentioned that boosting the EV to +1 is necessary in snow scenes because the camera meter averages the light reading and tends to underexpose that scene. That seems to be true on my K10D as the default settings do tend to underexpose slightly. At ISO 100, it's no issue at all to adjust the exposure up a little in PP but at higher ISO, it's much more important to be very close in camera. I always check my histogram and look at the LCD image and adjust to whats needed.
12-24-2010, 08:33 AM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by Ehlacore Quote
As far as I know braketing can only be done in JPEG and JPEG quality on this camera is TERRIBLE!
I have a K20D, and I am not familiar with the K10D. But even if the K10D won't auto-bracket in RAW, the user can still bracket manually, the same as with old manual film cameras. Take a meter reading; shoot at that exposure, and at +1.5 and -1.5 EV's. If necessary, the best can be tweaked during RAW development.

Other ways to get good exposures in snow or other extreme-contrast situations involve spot-metering. For instance, spot-meter the subject for a correct exposure, and let the surroundings do what they will. Or use a simplified Zone method: spot-meter the darkest and the brightest points in a scene, then use an exposure midway between them.

Or use center-weighted metering and a basic trick. Back when I only had center-weighted film cameras, and if I couldn't get near a subject for exact metering, I found that I could get good exposures by taking a reading from something that looked about the same brightness as the subject -- the ground around me for landscapes, or my hand for subjects with similar skin tone.

But since digital shooting costs nothing, just shoot and chimp and adjust and re-shoot. All it takes is time.
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