Best way to take photos in the snow?

[matt|H]

Tried taking some photos last night with the flash (pretty dark) but the flash just hits the snow in front of the lens and this is all you can see.

Is there any way to avoid this other than finding somewhere that doesn't need flash (lit area..)?

 

[Aluco]

During the day adjust the settings so it lets less light in or something. That's what I did on my boarding holiday lol, worked ok. Or put it in "snow mode"

 

[Revels]

1/2 & f22 is what I just used..

Just fiddle to you get it how you want..

 

[matt|H]

Thanks, I'll mess around in a little bit and see if it helps at all. Don't know I'll notice the difference until tonight but thanks for the tips.

 

[Aluco]

During the day adjust the settings so it lets less light in or something. That's what I did on my boarding holiday lol, worked ok. Or put it in "snow mode"

r****d response.

1/2 & f22 is what I just used..

Just fiddle to you get it how you want..

Educated response.

 

[dunganick]

Set it to AV or TV, dependant on what you want to control; DOF or shutter speed, then just under expose 1/3 of a stop and bring it back in the PP

Really you need to use manual to get smack on exposure and a nice spike on the histogram. But life is too short.

 

[steven.m]

If its at night, you'll need a tripod and long exposure, with low low ISO ofcourse.

 

[matt|H]

If its at night, you'll need a tripod and long exposure, with low low ISO ofcourse.

Long exposure is a no go for these photos

 

[Curtis!]

Found that over exposing the shots gives it more of a snowy look as in indirect like it looks grey ish on a normal exposure.

Haven't messed with the F stop yet though.

 

[Ian]

Just look at your histogram after you've taken a shot and adjust your exposure to make it fit better. I overexpose a bit to compensate for snow being lighter than middle grey. The photos I took yesterday were at ISO 1600 and ~1/20th, getting into the realms of stupidity, but they came out well. Couldn't have left it much later (about 4:45pm), though.

I'm afraid if long exposure isn't an option then high ISO is your only other option really. Would it be possible to cover between the camera and the subject to stop the snow falling? I.e. umbrella, plastic sheet etc?

 

[dunganick]

Found that over exposing the shots gives it more of a snowy look as in indirect like it looks grey ish on a normal exposure.

Haven't messed with the F stop yet though.

Over exposing looks better on the camera. But you will loose the shadows and sky detail (if there is any). If you underexpose you get these details, then use fill light/contrast/brightness/exposure in Lightroom/PS to get it properly exposed.

 

[Ian]

If you overexpose it retains more detail though (i.e. so it's not blown, just above half way). Underexposing and then filling the shadows will introduce noise will it not, Nick?

Edit: That sounds argumentative.. not trying to be - honest! Just interested to hear your thoughts.

 

[dunganick]

If you overexpose it retains more detail though (i.e. so it's not blown, just above half way). Underexposing and then filling the shadows will introduce noise will it not, Nick?

Edit: That sounds argumentative.. not trying to be - honest! Just interested to hear your thoughts.

It may well do Ian (i know your not being argumentative lol), tbh i havent a clue if its technically the right thing to do, ive just found it seems to be working better haha

Unless shooting RAW (that i guess would just sort this problem) if you under expose you run the risk in low light of increase the noise in the dark colours when you boost them, but if you over expose you will loose alot of the details anyway.

Snow has been giving me lots of head aches recently, im still not sure ive mastered it. Also seems to vary lens to lens. The 70-200 likes being underexposed, where as the 10-22 wants about 1/2 stop over exp.

 

[Ian]

It may well do Ian (i know your not being argumentative lol), tbh i havent a clue if its technically the right thing to do, ive just found it seems to be working better haha

Unless shooting RAW (that i guess would just sort this problem) if you under expose you run the risk in low light of increase the noise in the dark colours when you boost them, but if you over expose you will loose alot of the details anyway.

Snow has been giving me lots of head aches recently, im still not sure ive mastered it. Also seems to vary lens to lens. The 70-200 likes being underexposed, where as the 10-22 wants about 1/2 stop over exp.

Yeah it's weird.. to me if I over-expose by say 1 stop I find the snow looks the right shade of white, but if you under-expose by the same amount you can see a lot more surface detail. The thing with using the upper reaches of the scale is that digital cameras record more detail (twice as much for every stop or something like that.. it's definitely linear), so if you keep an eye on your histogram and make sure you're not clipping any highlights then you can always pull back the exposure anyway. It's all a bit over-the-top I suppose, but it's just what I've been reading lol.

These were all taken at roughly +1 exposure iirc, haven't edited any of them except the first where I boosted the contrast and added a vignette to counteract dark corners: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianflaherty/4248761848/

If you look at your monitor from a low angle you can see all the detail in the snow is still there.

Edit: here's the article I read: http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml

 

[Curtis!]

Normal expo:

Knock over expos:

 

[Revels]

You guys are getting way too technical for me! Lol.

 

[dunganick]

They are some pretty good results Ian.

I will give that a read in a second.

Im trying to find a good example from recently, will put one up in a bit... if i have any posts left today

 

[® Andy]

Yesterday I was shooting mostly with shutter priority around 1/200s with exposure knocked up 1/3 - 2/3eV to prevent the interesting bits being under exposed. Also I turned on Highlight Tone Priority which stretches the dynamic range a bit too on Canons. Results were really nice and high contrast .