Comments on: Photographing snow

By: “Snow”tography « Digital Imaging and Video Spring 2012

“Snow”tography « Digital Imaging and Video Spring 2012 — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:56:25 +0000

[...] http://www.digicamhelp.com/how-to/nature/snow/ [...]

By: Gail Bjork

Gail Bjork — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:46:51 +0000

Thanks for pointing this out, Andy. Corrected.

By: Andy

Andy — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:59:46 +0000

“Expose to the left and you’ll LOSE all your contrast. “Loose” is not a verb, alright??”

“Loose” can be a verb … it’s just not the right one in this context.

By: Jan

Jan — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:26:55 +0000

I’ve read that it’s better to overexpose snow when shooting with film (if anyone uses it any more) because film has more exposure latitude.

With digital, you need to underexpose and then adjust the shadow areas when editing. By underexposing, the snow will not become blown out.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 06:18:38 +0000

Tim is right on. Overexposing snow with autoexposure is nearly impossible, unless you spotmeter on something other than snow. And snow is quite blue in daytime.

Expose to the left and you’ll LOSE all your contrast. “Loose” is not a verb, alright??

By: daniel

daniel — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:30:03 +0000

hey man thanks alot for this article really helped me out. being a photography student i dont quite understand everything yet but this was just so simple and easy thanks bernard

By: Bernard

Bernard — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 14:00:08 +0000

Hello Tim,
adjusting your exposure compensation for photographing snow is both a matter of technique and preference. As you say, exposing “to the right” of the histogram yields better exposure. However, this does not tell the whole story, since by doing this you will quite probably loose a lot of texture on the snow. That is why I recommend exposing more “to the left”, assuming that there will be post-processing involved, but preserving the texture of the snow. I never claimed my advice would lead to the least post-processing, quite the contrary. Each photographer can decide for himself how he prefers to photograph snow, once that is understood.
Again, regarding white balance, that is a matter of choice. Just like a photographer can break the rules of composition if that is his intend, she can also play with colours at will. I am simply giving advice on how to keep the snow white in a picture. Feel free to do otherwise, I am not pretending there is only one way to take a photograph.
Photography is a work of light and emotion. Go with what you feel works for you.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 00:32:05 +0000

I’m afraid this article contradicts just about everything else I’ve ever read about photographing snow.
To be precise, sunlit snow in the scene is best rendered about +1.5 to +2EV above the midtone. This will get it in the right region of the histogram to minimize any tweaks required. The chances of there being anything *brighter* than sunlit snow in your scenery are few and far between.
As for whitebalance: if there’s one thing in life that is *NOT* white, it’s snow. If it’s in golden-hour light, it is golden yellow; if it’s out in the open during the brightest parts of a cold sunny day, then because it’s mostly reflecting the sky, it’s blue. In shadow areas, it will be very blue indeed. Your so-called “correction” is actually breaking it. If you’re going to use a custom whitebalance, I recommend the underside of a mid-grey cloud on a mid-grey overcast day as your reference – or take an 18% grey-card with you.
#5, the “single coloured object” subject-matter (not a matter of composition), is a recipe for a trite cliché. Nil points.
#6, b&w and sepia: I’ll shoot what the heck I like, thank you very much.

By: Amit

Amit — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:05:39 +0000

hey great tutorial on snow photography.. using of flash: using flash outdoor is not necessary but if you are shooting winter photograph, using a flash can bring out details and highlights that might not be captured without it. However, if you are shooting close shots avoid using flash as much as possible as the reflection can greatly reduce any detail in your photo.

By: Rodger Booth

Rodger Booth — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:13:42 +0000

Sir, when taking a reflected reading from a very bright object we want to increase the exposure as the camera takes in the brightness and will stop the reading down and without the increase of .7-.1 of esposure the image will be underexposed. Hence with a reading of a very dark object we want to stop down as the camera is going to increase the exposure to bring out the dark color and the black will be overexposed and washed out.