Lots of stuff to respond to! I hope I don't forget anything.
First, concerning the blown snow on the far bank. I think it's an excellent pic, the colours are very true and vibrant. To avoid overexposing the snow, you could dial down the EV compensation, or use center-wighted metering and lock the exposure on the brightest part of the image (to lock exposure with the S2, pres the metering button after half-pressing). But I have seen far worse snow shots than yours. Maybe a different composition, to avoid cutting the river would have carried a different feel.
Up to your questions:
EQUIPMENT
- I have read that people are keeping a converter and a UV filter on the S2 permanently in order to protect the S2 lens. I've had so much trouble with the S2 lens cap that I have decided to try this. However, it feels very cumbersome to keep this converter on the camera all the time. It changes the shape of the package I carry around that I call my camera. I can’t put the camera in its protective case. Also, the clip-on lens cap I got for the UV lens from Lensmate isn't much better than the original anyway. Any other suggestions? Or should I just plan to keep that converter on 24/7?
If you have the UV filter attached, you don't
need a lens cap, since the filter will protect the lens. The cap will simply protect the filter... The adaptor of course increases the size of the package, but there's no working around that.
TECHNIQUE
- When trying to get a clear focus on a meadow across a valley with branches in a forest intervening, I just get a focus on the branches and the background is soft and blurry. Should I try focusing at a similar distance through a clear space and then recompose the shot? See this link to understand what my problem is here.
http://static.flickr.com/9/69506974_ea4173128f_o.jpgYou could either, as you say, focus on a clear part of the image, then recompose, or focus manually. If you're not sure about the accuracy of the MF, you can set it roughly, then press the SET button and the camera will try to improve on your work, while keeping the approximate distance you set (it shouldn't come back to 1 meter if you were at 50 meters...) One other thing you could do is use a small aperture to enlarge the depth of field. It would maybe be possible to get both the foreground and the background in focus then.
POST-PROCESSING
- In focus bracketing, if none of the pics are just right, should I work with the lightest pic and deepen it or vice versa?
You probably mean exposure bracketing? In that case, it's safer to work with the darkest pic, I'd say, because it's sometimes possible to get back some data from the dark parts, but it's impossible to get back data from a white blown image.
- Could you point me to a link that explains the eyedropper thing in Levels? I just don’t understand how that works despite much research on the topic.
I'm sorry but I can't advise you here. We'll see what the others have to say.
- I am using Photoshop Elements 3 for the Mac, which doesn’t have a curves function. I am curious about whether folks who do post-processing consider curves to be essential. I can download a plug-in to Elements with a curves function if it is. Do you use Levels AND curves, or do you use one or the other? Which technique in what situation?
Curves are useful, but sometimes tricky. I personally use both Elements 2 and Photoshop 7, and I've rarely used curves. I think it depends on the style of the user, you can achieve the same results by many different methods. Just go with what works.
