 No
weather event transforms the landscape so dramatically and so quickly as
a fresh snow. Photographing it does it takes a little
thought. The single greatest problem you will encounter, is the exposure of the snow. Snow is
white. Exposure meters are designed to make things look middle gray. As
a result brilliant scenes of white snow
can look like dirty month-old snow on a dark overcast day.
Snow Exposure Suggestions
For
brilliant, clean, sunlit snow under a blue sky, add +3 EV to the
meter reading. (One EX = 1 f-stop) -
For
snow in cloudy bright conditions, add +2 EV.
-
For
snow in open shade on a bright day, or gray snow on an overcast day,
add +1 EV.
-
For
crummy, dirty, dark gray snow on a miserable rainy day (or if you
just want it to look like that) use the exact meter reading.
Additional
Exposure Notes:
-
These
settings are a good starting point for general-purpose slide films.
As always, your meter may vary, so bracket exposures and make a note
of what works best with your your favorite film(s).
-
Print
film shooters - Overexpose! Overexpose! The exposure suggestions above are also a
good starting point. Keep in mind that color-print film is designed
to tolerate huge amounts of overexposure, so that if you're in
doubt, use the Plus One Principle (P.O.P.)
and add yet another stop.
-
Digital Photographers will need to realize that their histogram will likely be skewed because of the lack of dark subjects. If you rely soley on your histogram you will have incorrect exposure. If you camera has an adjustment with has a + or - on it that is what you are looking for. Use the + setting to adjust for snow.
-
No
spotmeter? Simply point your camera down to fill the frame with a
broad patch of snow, take a meter reading (or press the autoexposure
lock), then add the appropriate compensation-open up a few stops, or
add EV via a compensation control.
-
Point-and-shooters: If you have full exposure-compensation control or backlight
compensation, now's the time to use it. No compensation? Try locking focus and exposure on the darkest area you can
find, recompose, and shoot.
-
Snow
also reflects lots of ultraviolet, which means color films pick up
lots of blue in the shadows on sunny days. The ultraviolet (UV)
filter does little to reduce this, in our experience; the skylight (lA),
which has a slight pinkish color, works better. You may even want to
go with an 81A warming filter if you're concerned about skin tones
in the shadows. If you this be sure to adjust the exposure
calculations for a filter factor.
-
If you're photographing during a snow storm or flurry, pay attention to
what your flash is doing. Heavy snowfall photographed by a flash
burst results in a picture of the snow inches in front of the lens -
it might be an interesting abstract, but probably not what you
wanted. To put it
simply, Turn the flash off.
- A lot of photographers will also divide their ASA by 3, set the camera
accordingly, and then bracket.
With a little effort you will be able to take snow photos like the one above.
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