 Daniela Meli |
Shooting snow I'm going to Lapland (Finland) in a couple of weeks and it will be my first time photographing snowy landscapes. Any advice? Thanks!
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Kerry L. Walker |
Take a gray card and meter off it. Otherwise, the snow will appear a bit gray.
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Daniela Meli |
Thanks!
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Kerry L. Walker |
You're welcome. Oh, and take plenty of film. Have lots of fun, and post some photos when you get back. We would like to see the results.
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roberthambleyphoto.com - Robert Hambley Contact Robert Hambley Robert Hambley's Gallery |
Greetings, When I am shooting snowy scenes, I add +2/3 to +1 1/2 exposure compensation to help get the snow 'white'. Another helpful hint, when doing so, make sure you don't have a large expanse of sky, because it will probably get over-exposed in the process. Try using a graduated ND filter to compensate for that. Good Luck.. Have Fun!! Can't wait to see the results! Robert
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Kerry L. Walker |
The gray card will take care of the exposure compensation. Robert is correct about the ND filter. It will help greatly.
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roberthambleyphoto.com - Robert Hambley Contact Robert Hambley Robert Hambley's Gallery |
Your are right Kerry. Let me qualify what I posted earlier. When using the camera metering, without a grey card, and when I am shooting snowy scenes, I add +2/3 to +1 1/2 exposure compensation to help get the snow 'white'. Also, bracket your exposures. Thanks,
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Kerry L. Walker |
Robert's idea is probably the best. A gray card is great but you will get tired of carring it around, taking it out, measuring the exposure, putting it up, then shooting. Add exposure as he recommends and bracket. You will be able to shoot much faster. Just remember to take more film than you think you need because you will burn a lot of extra film bracketing but it will be well worth it. Yes, for that once in a lifetime shot, use your gray card. Then, bracket anyway. Burning extra film is a lot cheaper than going back to get the shot you missed.
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Bob Cammarata |
I would imagine that the air is pretty clean in Finland. If it is,...you will surely experience a lot of clear-blue skies. If you meter off a deep blue sky...(opposite the sun) and shoot at that setting, your snow will be pure white and the sky will show its true colors. On gray, overcast days metering a gray card or something else neutral is the way to go. If no direct sunlight is illuminating the surrounding landscape, the light will be "cold", and turn your snow blue. A warming filter (81-A or 81-B) can neutralize some of the blue-cast and make the scene look more like your eyes and brain percieved it.
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Daniela Meli |
Thanks all for your help. I'll do my best not to disappoint everyone! By the way, I read somewhere that weather that cold could damage the camera (close to 0ºF, -15ºC). Of course, I'll take extra batteries, but don't know what other precautions to take. I'll like to clarify that I'm a person from the tropics, I'm not used to freezing temperatures.
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Kerry L. Walker |
Keep the camera inside your coat next to your body when you are not shooting and your camera should be fine. It's the batteries that will suffer more than the camera itself. As a Southern boy myself, I feel for you.
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- Kelly Abernathy Contact Kelly Abernathy Kelly Abernathy's Gallery |
When coming in from the cold, there's a chance for condensation on your camera when it goes from one temperature extreme to the other. When I took a winter trip this year, I always let my camera come up to room (or car) temperature zipped inside my insulated camera bag to minimize the shift in extreme temperatures and didn't have any trouble with condensation. Also, this is a no brainer, but be sure to have some good warm gloves that still allow you to work your camera controls. I found some great cold weather golf gloves that did the trick for me - warm and I could work all my camera controls with no problem. And in between shooting, I could fit other gloves on top of them. Also, I had good luck metering on the blue sky when available, or over-exposing when I had a gray sky. I will say that different lighting situations will vary what amount of overexposure will look right, so keep an eye on that. Good luck and have a fun trip! Sounds exciting! -K
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