Winter shooting tips wanted.

[mattr888]

in England it is coming in to winter. So can i have some good tips with shooting with rain show ice and how i would make the photos better when i go to take them

[angevin1]

I asked the Moderators to move your thread to a place to receive some help with your request.

[pathfinder]

The secret to shooting in snow fields, is to understand how reflected light meters ( like the one in your camera ) are designed to work.

They ASSUME ( by definition ) that your overall image should be a near neutral grey tone, and spurt out an exposure recommendation to achieve exactly that.

The problem is that snow is nowhere close to a neutral grey tone; but if you follow the exposure rec'd by the meter in your camera it will record the snow in your image as a GREY tone, not a white one.

To record the snow as white you must increase the exposure about 1 - 1.5 stops MORE light than the meter recommends when metering a white snow field. You cna do this visa the Exposure Compensation dial or button on your camera. Or ignore the meter, and learn to shoot via Sunny 16. (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=30235) Or you can meter the scene with your camera and an 18% grey card to read off of for your exposure value. Or you can purchase an Incident light meter ( not a reflected meter ) which will give you the correct exposure, that you could have already figured out via Sunny 16:thumb

Here is Andy's take on shooting in the snow (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=85560)

Rutt used to worry about the color of snow in his images a lot, and came to this realization (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=6366)

For a discussion of the physics of the color of snow, go here (http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon971003/skinnyon.html)

In short, snow is the color of whatever it is next to, just like clouds which tend to the green over cornfields in Iowa, and red over the desert in Utah.

Bad weather is always a great time for shooting photographs. I love shooting in fog the most though. I think you see fog from time to time in the UK too, don't you?

Some weather scenes...

http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Terre-Haute-Alleys-and-Back/Fairbanks-white-statue-MG0872/761186203_svrHq-XL.jpg


The cold blue of an approaching blizzard
http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/Travel/Iowa-Montana-and-Wyoming/Welcome-to-Idaho-3941/474563568_xUGB7-XL.jpg

The warm glow of morning sunrise on snow
http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/Travel/Iowa-Montana-and-Wyoming/winter-in-Willard-Bay-State/474558453_keJVx-XL.jpg


A tree in the late afternoon sunshine
http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/Travel/Iowa-Montana-and-Wyoming/yellowstone-tree-in-warm/485416566_CbvXx-XL.jpg

Dense fog in Alaska

http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/Travel/Alaska-with-Marc-et-al-August/Yellow-and-orange-pine-tree-in/1059598032_UB56R-XL.jpg

[mattr888]

I love shooting in fog the most though. I think you see fog from time to time in the UK too, don't you?

yer we do get fog and i was also going to have a go at shooting that one morning

[Sam]

Wear warm clothes, and don't eat the yellow snow!

Sam

[pathfinder]

You will notice that Sam lives in a western state, and rarely sees snow in his hometown.

I know Californians get snow in the Sierras, but not so much, I think, in San Jose.:D

[Sam]

You will notice that Sam lives in a western state, and rarely sees snow in his hometown.

I know Californians get snow in the Sierras, but not so much, I think, in San Jose.:D

Here in The Peoples Republic of California we take our civic duties seriously. We need to warn all citizens, non citizens, and Extraterrestrials about any and all dangers. Many Californian's think 60 degrees is cold and have no understanding of frost bite, hence they must be warned. Also the dangers of eating yellow snow can't be emphasized enough!

California is doing it's part. They close many roads over the Sierras during the winter months to prevent Californians from experiencing these horrors.

Sam

PS: Nice wither shots. :-)

[lfortier]

Just a couple of tips from a New Englander.

Dress warm, don't let your feet get wet.
Get a pair of gloves that let the fingers slip off.
Keep spare batteries in your pockets close to your body.

Bring your equipment out (put in car trunk) early enough so that the glass surfaces don't fog up.

If you have a beautiful blue sky and can't figure your exposure, take a meter reading off the sky. This works!

Have fun.

Have something warm waiting for you at home.

[mattr888]

see in england were i live we dont get much snow but alot of rain and a couple of sunny days lol

[ThatCanonGuy]

Don't get wet!!!!
A great time to shoot macros is when the sun is shining, you can get some nice reflections.

The secret to shooting in snow fields, is to understand how reflected light meters ( like the one in your camera ) are designed to work.

They ASSUME ( by definition ) that your overall image should be a near neutral grey tone, and spurt out an exposure recommendation to achieve exactly that.

The problem is that snow is nowhere close to a neutral grey tone; but if you follow the exposure rec'd by the meter in your camera it will record the snow in your image as a GREY tone, not a white one.

To record the snow as white you must increase the exposure about 1 - 1.5 stops MORE light than the meter recommends when metering a white snow field. You cna do this visa the Exposure Compensation dial or button on your camera. Or ignore the meter, and learn to shoot via Sunny 16. (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=30235) Or you can meter the scene with your camera and an 18% grey card to read off of for your exposure value. Or you can purchase an Incident light meter ( not a reflected meter ) which will give you the correct exposure, that you could have already figured out via Sunny 16:thumb

Or, you can shoot manual:wink

[pathfinder]

Using the Sunny 16 rule IS about shooting in Manual at the correct exposure.........

[ThatCanonGuy]

Using the Sunny 16 rule IS about shooting in Manual at the correct exposure.........

Oh sorry, I misunderstood...

[pathfinder]

No problem, I was agreeing with you!