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winter photography tips
winter is one of my most favorite times for photography. as some of our friends in the northern climes are already receiving snow, i thought it would be a good time to start a winter photography tips thread.
exposure / metering:
the most important time i can give you is to overexpose that snow! most camera light meters are fooled by the bright snow, and will underexpose drastically. so, i find that between +1 and +1 2/3s positive ec is needed for most brightliy lit snow scenes. experiment to see what's right for your camera, but it'll for sure be in this range.
white balance: most cameras are fooled by the white snow, and their auto whitebalance doesn't get it right. learn to set your white balance manually, and i find that setting it manually against the white snow works great much of the time. of course, you can use a grey card, expodisc, or other device, too, but for me, the snow works just great.
gear:
these are very cool "shooting gloves" they are thin, yet warm! it was 8 degrees out on the hudson today, and with the windchill, about 20 below. my hands felt great! they have little rubber grips on them, so getting to all the controls on the camera is no problem. i highly recommend them. oh and the best part? $20 bucks. you can find them here at b&h photo
carry at least two, if not more, batteries (depends on how long you'll be out for). the cold *severely* limits battery performance, so don't be surprised if your battery drains in an hour even. carry extras, and keep them in a warm pocket, very close to your body.
be careful when bringing your camera from a very warm environment directly into the very very cold. you may get condensation. to avoid this, try the ziplock bag trick, keep your camera in the ziplock while inside, and then let it acclimate inside the ziplock for a while outdoors before you start shooting.
i'll add more tips as i think of them, and by all means, would you fellow dgrinners join in here with tips of your own?
enjoy (winter) photography,
exposure / metering:
the most important time i can give you is to overexpose that snow! most camera light meters are fooled by the bright snow, and will underexpose drastically. so, i find that between +1 and +1 2/3s positive ec is needed for most brightliy lit snow scenes. experiment to see what's right for your camera, but it'll for sure be in this range.
white balance: most cameras are fooled by the white snow, and their auto whitebalance doesn't get it right. learn to set your white balance manually, and i find that setting it manually against the white snow works great much of the time. of course, you can use a grey card, expodisc, or other device, too, but for me, the snow works just great.
gear:
these are very cool "shooting gloves" they are thin, yet warm! it was 8 degrees out on the hudson today, and with the windchill, about 20 below. my hands felt great! they have little rubber grips on them, so getting to all the controls on the camera is no problem. i highly recommend them. oh and the best part? $20 bucks. you can find them here at b&h photo
carry at least two, if not more, batteries (depends on how long you'll be out for). the cold *severely* limits battery performance, so don't be surprised if your battery drains in an hour even. carry extras, and keep them in a warm pocket, very close to your body.
be careful when bringing your camera from a very warm environment directly into the very very cold. you may get condensation. to avoid this, try the ziplock bag trick, keep your camera in the ziplock while inside, and then let it acclimate inside the ziplock for a while outdoors before you start shooting.
i'll add more tips as i think of them, and by all means, would you fellow dgrinners join in here with tips of your own?
enjoy (winter) photography,
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ginger
I took a bunch of photos of our dog Buddy going NUTS in the snow thinking about this week's TIME challenge, as it could be considered "Time to Play". After CONSIDERABLE feedback from my wife, she thinks that snow on October 16 should be considered "Time to Move!" ...
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be careful of handling them with moist hands. Damp hands on cold metal
object might mean stuck hands
To make handling your tripod easier, find a section of pipe insulation at
the local building supply store. Duct tape the insulation to the top
of the tripod leg(s).
Batteries tend to do poorly in the cold. Keep your spares in a pocket
next to you.
Ian
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One of the better reason for Carbon Fibre tripods is that they are not cold like a metal tripod at all. They can actually feel warm at times, especially if the sun is shining.
A plastic garbage bag or a freezer bag is a good thing to place your camera inside prior to returning to warm environs if you have been outside in the cold all day to prevent condensation inside optics and electronics.
I find that setting your color balance for shade helps diminish the blue color you often get when shooting in a snowy environment and use AWB.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
the part.
Layering, especially if your activities include working or hiking, is important.
Start with the underwear layer. I will usually wear something like UnderArmor
(poly stretch) as a base layer followed by the appropriate layers on top.
Depending on the weather, it could be as simple as the polypro underwear
and street clothes or more polypro followed by fleece and some sort of shell.
Layering allows you to add or subtract clothing as required to help regulate
your body temperature. There's nothing like being too hot after a hike in the
snow followed by an hour of standing around in the cold and in wet clothes
while shooting.
The head is a great source of heat loss. Wear a cap or hat to prevent heat
loss. And don't forget your feet. A nice pair of wool socks is a must.
Looking forward to winter,
Ian
i've never even seen real snow! - let along taken a picture of some!
the best we get is some hail, it might get to 3 degrees (c) but that's it! have to drive about 2000 km to the closest snow field but that's really only open for about 3 months of the year! either that or fly to New Zealand!
make sure you all post HEAPS of winter shots, snow, ice, all that stuff to keep us Aussie's sane!
It should keep us cool in our scortching summers - i would say that we would easily get 47+ degrees (c) in our state this summer!
Enjoying (extremes of weather) photography.
Kate
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My youngest one playing with that dirty four letter "S" word. It's just too darn early for this. This was AWB, no ec, Aperature Priority at f/16, ISO 100.
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TML Photography
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The Sierra's got something like 4' in places last weekend. One or two
resorts "opened" for the ski season. I use quotes because only one lift
in each was opened. So technically, it's the beginning of rental ski season
Ian
I have followed the link to the lowepro gloves, and it costs me 11 dollar to ship them to my apo address. Gosh, that is half of the price of the gloves.
Buying them in UK will probably be overkill to what pricing concerns.
Does anyone know how much they go in UK? I would pay 30 dollar to have them shipped.
http://photocatseyes.net
http://www.zazzle.com/photocatseyes
photocat, go to this lowepro site and put in your postal code. you'll get a list of uk retailers.
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Thanks Andy, will do. ..
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you will know.
Ian
Thanks for the tip! On order.
Minus something with the windchill today. Everything was warm except that shootin' finger!
Merino wool undershirt, cotton hooded sweatshirt, full face mask (wigwam light weight), mountain parka, layers will always do it! Gotta guard against getting too warm and raising your bloodpressure. When hiking in extreme conditions it's easy to overdo it...listen to your body!
In this thread Andy, you had mentioned about using the flash, for snow pix, even tho you're outdoors & most likely during the daytime.
My question is, should I use the 828's built-in flash or my F32X external flash?
i don't recall talking about flash... i don't use flash much for my outdoor winter photography. did i say that?
in any case, i'm looking forward to your contributions here
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...The solution? Add 1 EV of exposure compensation and force the flash on.
yeah- overexpose the snow.. +1ec is about right. i don't force the flash on though....
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If you cant be with Harry or our friends on the left coast.:D
Cincinnati Smug Leader
Warm wool hat
Great scarf (a warm neck psychologically makes you feel warmer)
2 layers of wigwam socks
Good dry boots and don't worry about warmth, that comes from the socks
Get some thin gloves and some warm gloves, use the thin ones while shooting
And a coat that will block out the wind and keep you dry
Warmth is one of the things you want in winter, but what you really want is to be dry. If you put on too much, you sweat and you literally start to freeze on bad days. Light layers are great and no matter what fabrics we come up with wool is the warmest. And stay away from polyester as much as possible. It is warm but it does not breath, try to get as much wool and cotton in what you wear, it truely will make the difference between you focusing on your picture or focusing on trying to stay warm.
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hat: check
gloves: check
...but what do I do about the problem on my chin:
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Ian