How to Take Pictures With a Digital Camera in Snow

Winter snow can be a challenge for a photographer. Winter light is “cooler” in nature and the bright reflections from snow and ice tend to make the final image too “bright." Bracketing exposures helps when photographing outdoors in the snow. Some modern digital cameras can be set to automatically bracket. Bracketing refers to taking multiple exposures of the same scene by adjusting the F-Stop or Shutter Speed up or down. In winter shots you would want to close the aperture one or two F-Stops or increase shutter speed to underexpose or reduce the amount of light. In addition to bracketing, there are other steps you can take to make your winter photography an enjoyable effort.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A Digital Camera
• A waterproof camera bag
• Snow

1. Poor White Balance Most amateur photographers shoot in automatic mode. In this mode the camera sets the shutter speed, aperture and white balance for the shot. The purpose of white balance is to equalize colors based on the lighting conditions. Winter conditions can cause camera sensors to “misjudge” the white balance. This will usually cause snow to look bluish in nature as in this example image.
2. Good White Balance In this image, the white balance was adjusted and the snow looks normal, even though it was shot in midmorning. Adjust your white balance manually according to your camera manual and take multiple shots of the same winter scene. View the images and select the image that gives you the best exposure and purest white. Use this white balance setting when shooting in the snow. It is hard to get detail in snow, and if you are shooting for texture, the closer you are to the snow, the better. Also be cautious of shadows. Snow shadows usually look gray and can make the picture drab. If you are shooting a portrait in the snow, experiment with fill flash on your subject, which will brighten your subject and make them stand out in the snow.
3. Boring Picture Just because it is snowing, don’t forget about the other rules of photography. This is a boring picture. What is the subject? It is good to get other colors into a picture of snow; blue sky could be enough, but not with this picture.
4. Waiting for Spring This is a picture I call “Waiting for Spring." Unlike the previous picture, the snow adds to the image, but is not the whole story. Not being able to see the dog's face adds to the image, which truly captures a moment, and the snow is only a backdrop
5. Snow Sometimes the snow is the whole story. Photographing in the snow can be hard on you and your equipment. Always dress warm and wear gloves. Driving gloves are great because you can operate the camera with them on. Take spare batteries; cold weather drains them quicker. Digital cameras have restricted temperature operating ranges. Check your owner’s manual before taking off for the wilds. New SD cards can be operated in temperature extremes. Always check the user information before shooting.

Tips & Warnings

• Shooting at dawn and dusk is always preferable, and even more so for winter shots.
• Let your camera get adjusted to temperature changes before use.
• Keep the camera equipment in a waterproof bag when not in use.