Taking photos in snow

[jennyb]

I really need some more advice. Although we have not had a single flake of snow around here this year, I wonder if any of you have any tips for taking photos in snow. I am going to the Alps in a couple of weeks and I usually don't take my camera when I go skiing. This time I am hoping to get some decent mountain shots, but I realise I don't really know where to start with conditions like that (hopefully very sunny and very bright).

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Jenny

[peterjclarke]

Jenny, Just remember that snow is two stops brighter than mid tone and the histogram should reflect this being fairly far to the right. if you are using manual just meter off the snow and open up two stops programed modes will usually need some exposure compensation dialed in.

[GerryNick2]

Just remember the saying ' If its bright go to the right' i.e. you will need to compensate + 1-2 f stops.

Gerry

[richardkm]

As PJC says, if using manual exposure, don't read from the snow. The palm of the hand usually gives a good result. If you're using digital, it's a simple matter to take a pic, look at the histogram and then gradually adjust the exposure compensation, taking a pic at each step until the highlights are just inside the right end. That gives a point to start from. If possible, shoot in RAW as colour casts can be a problem with significant blue hues in the shadows. This can be made less intrusive by altering the colour temperature when opening the RAW file.

Have a great time, wish I was coming with you!

[big bill]

Hello Jenny like Richard says try and take a reading from the back of the hand or a mid tone then add +1-2 stops to compensate for under-exposure due to the brightness of the snow ,if you shoot in raw you can adjust this in the raw software but its always better top try and get it right at the time of the shot enjoy yourself in the alps look forward to your pics

[Hobjob]

I've had problems with blue colour cast with snow. RAW in theory should help to correct this, but I've not actually got around to trying it.

[jennyb]

Many thanks for the suggestions. I think checking the histogram will be an important step.

I really don't want to blow this opportunity because we don't go to that particular area very often and the scenery is just gob-smacking (Bernese Oberland, with the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau).

Jenny

[peterjclarke]

Jenny, It is a beautiful area and I'm sure you will get some good photographs. I always use RAW and if on a sunny day the white snow in sunshine will appear white if using a 'daylight sunny' white balance. Any snow in shadow will appear very blue due in part to the blue light reflected from a blue sky.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by jennyb

Many thanks for the suggestions. I think checking the histogram will be an important step.

it is also quite easy to go too far to the right and burn out the detail in the snow so its an idea to turn on the "blinky highlights" function which makes burnt out areas blink on the lcd to alert you to the problem.

this isnt such a problem if you are shooting raws as exposure can be corrected at the conversion stage but you need to be very careful if you are shooting jpeg as burnt out highlights are next to impossible to recover in post processing.