Snowy sunrise

[Kerry Perkins]

Captured at 7:30am on New Year's Eve last year. I am going to post two versions of this image and I would like to hear from you about which one you prefer and why. The first one is color corrected to "neutral" in LR3, i.e., the white plumage is corrected for daylight color temperature at mid-day. The second image is "as captured". What do you think?

7D, EF400mm f/5.6L
Manual mode, f/5.6@1/2500 ISO 400 WB 3700K
AI Servo autofocus, hand-held no flash

[Kerry Perkins]

Here is the un-corrected version. Same image, WB set in camera at 3700K which is very close to daylight color temperature at sunrise on a clear day.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Kerry,

Greetings. Much prefer the warmer version (that is the 2nd one :w3)... white feathers are rarely neutral to my eye or maybe it's just a preference. I also think the added color contrast is appealing.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Jay Gould]

I would be interested in what you actually saw/felt. You are shooting RAW and yet not using Auto WB. If there was a sun glow then the second image would reflect that glow; if not, then probably the first image is real life.

[Richard Stern]

Hi,

Both are excellent, but I too prefer #2, the warmer one. It gives an impression of early morning or late evening light, and looks more natural on the bird. I suppose it's a matter of personal preference, but in general I prefer a warmer light for most images, except, e,g, metal objects, or stormy snow scenes that are really supposed to make you feel cold looking at them.

Richard

[Rene Quenneville]

I also vote for #2. the warmer tones give an early morning to the image.

[Kerry Perkins]

Sorry all, I reported the WB setting wrong (copy and paste mistake). :e3 It was set in the camera at 3700K for the warm light. I edited both posts to correct the mistake.

Jay, the second image is what I saw. Why would I use AWB? I seldom, if ever, use it.

[Jay Gould]

Sorry all, I reported the WB setting wrong (copy and paste mistake). :e3 It was set in the camera at 3700K for the warm light. I edited both posts to correct the mistake.

Jay, the second image is what I saw. Why would I use AWB? I seldom, if ever, use it.

AWB: because rarely does the camera get it wrong, and it is correctable in PP.

When you said the 2nd image is "as captured", if you have set your WB to 3700 then it is as captured with a forced WB.

[Chris Korman]

A very beautiful capture and composition. I might also try experimenting with adding a tad more FG if you have it as the little rock's reflection is cut off.