In the snow redux, redux

I went to the Columbus Zoo Monday to find out if I could use my camera's exposure compensation feature effectively. There wasn't a heck of a lot of snow on the ground, but the prairie dogs were good test subjects.

In this photo, I added one increment, or "stop," of exposure compensation:

Black-tailed prairie dogs, photographed with +1 stop exposure compensation.

 There is no exposure compensation in this shot:

Black-tailed prairie dogs, photographed with no exposure compensation.

Snow dominated the camera's automatic exposure system. The camera perceived a bright scene and reduced the amount of light that hit the image sensor to get a "correct" exposure. However, based on the photos from my previous trip to the zoo, I figured the image would be too dark (underexposed). I added one stop of positive exposure compensation to make the scene brighter over all and render the prairie dogs close to their actual color. The trade-off is a loss of detail in the snow, but that's okay because I was interested in the prairie dogs and not the snow. I call my test a success.

In the snow, redux

I'm not happy with my photos of animals in the snow (previous post) because they look flat and dull. So, contrary to my conscience, I fired-up PaintShop Pro. I took the easy route and used the One Step Photo Fix feature. I thought that feature went too far, so I used Smart Photo Fix, which let me make some adjustments manually. Here's what I got for the tiger:

Amur tiger, with (bottom) and without digital enhancement

I prefer the slightly-increased brightness of the enhanced tiger.

Do you see the dividing line in the wolverine photo? Interestingly, the Photo Fix features make dark areas darker in addition to brightening the scene overall. 

Wolverine, with the left half enhanced

I prefer the left half, I think.

On the other hand, I like the unenhanced pronghorn photo because it looks colder. Here's a poor pronghorn, trudging through the snow in search of food or shelter. Will it survive?! Of course it will. It's in a zoo, and there's a shed about 100 feet to the left. Also, it was about 34℉, not 9℉ as I write this.

pronghorn

Have I changed my tune about enhancing photos in software? Not really, if only because it takes a lot of time. I'd rather spend time continuing to learn how to use my camera than learning how to use PaintShop Pro. I could push the One Step Photo Fix button for every photo, but where's the creativity in that?

My understanding of a camera's auto-exposure function is that shooting a snowy scene often yields a picture that is underexposed (too dark) because the camera adjusts for the brightness of the snow to the detriment of the relative darkness of the subject. Reading and backyard experiments tell me I can use my camera's exposure compensation button to get brighter subjects right from the camera. This is a good, small step away from my using auto-everything and toward taking control of the camera.

In the snow

Columbus had a little snow recently, so I went to the zoo Monday to check out the animals I thought would be out. None of these photos would win a prize, but I enjoyed the trip.

pronghorn

Lee, a polar bear. He's brown because of fun in a mulch pile.

A wolverine was quite active when I was there.

A bald eagle, with another in the background

Hermie, a bison

Hermie and the zoo's water tower

Amur (Siberian) tiger

Man, this food is dry.

African grey parrot: Same ol' yellow stuff. It tastes okay, but it is soooo dry.

OK. What if I get some in my beak...

turn around...

and work my way over to the water dish? Gotta hang on with my beak without losing the goods.

Strrrrech my right foot... almost there.

Aaaah. After the yellow stuff soaks a little while it goes down easy.