How to Take Family Portraits in the Winter Snow
The word photography means writing with light. Therefore, to master the art of photography, you have to master controlling the light. Snow creates one of the most difficult lighting situations to correct, as the light bouncing off of the snow creates in itself an extra light source. You have everything you need to counterbalance the snow right inside your camera, and with a creative eye for positioning and scene setting, your family photo session will appear as a majestic winter wonderland.
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Instructions
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Choose a location. As snow is a ubiquitous color, it is best to chose locations with contrasting natural colors, such as in front of a grove of pine trees, between large maple trees in the forest, near an old wooden fence or holly bush, or next to a frozen pond or river, for example.
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Gather props and costumes. Props are also important in portrait photography for adding contrast, as well as a theme. When photographing outdoors, take advantage of it. Incorporate old benches and artistic garden chairs, bird baths and feeders, wheel barrows, old garden sheds, lanterns, old-fashioned sleighs or wagons, or homemade snowmen. Costumes should reflect the feel of "family" and continuity. Try dressing the family in a variety of thick winter sweaters with various hats, scarves, gloves and snow boots.
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Schedule the photo shoot during the golden hours of the day, which are between post-midday and sundown. This is the time of day when the sun is no longer rising or right above, but is making its way toward the horizon. This positioning of sun adds a golden tone to everything it reaches and will highlight the details in the texture of the snow better than midday sunlight.
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Set the white balance. Obtaining a quality white balance is one of the most difficult aspects of snow scene photography. White balance is how the camera perceives natural white to be, and from there sets the value of all colors. If the white balance is off, all of the colors will be off. Blue snow is the most common white balance error in snow photography due to the extra light that is reflected by the snow. This occurs even when the camera is set to manual white-balance adjustment. Set the white balance on your camera to either the sunny day or cloudy setting, or manually set the white balance by taking a test shot of plain snow to "tell the camera" that "this is white." How to change the white balance varies per camera. Check the user's manual for instructions on how to set the white balance on your camera.
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Meter the light by taking test shots. It is a good idea to meter and set your light before you bring the family out so they don't have to wait in the cold while you to play with your aperture settings. Set both your aperture and shutter speed, as well as manually override the exposure value (EV) between -2/3 and -2, because snow tricks cameras since it is its own light source. Note that if it is snowing, make sure to use the flash to illuminate the snowflakes that are falling.
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Position the family for the shoot. Line them up, gather them around a bench with the shorter member seated holding the younger children, with older children framing the scene. Experiment with posed placement, such as lining them up shoulder to shoulder between two large trees.
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Alter the scene and change angles. Aside from seated positioning, shoot action shots of the family having fun together. Scenes could include snowball fights, hugging, laughing, jumping, kissing or making snow angels. Give the family some props, such as steaming hot cocoa or snow shovels.
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References
- Photo Credit family in winter park image by Pavel Losevsky from Fotolia.com
