Winter can be an exciting time to go out and expand your photography collection. When the ground is covered with snow even familiar environments can have completely different view, and there are many opportunities to capture individual images. Winter gives special challenges that photographers usually do not have to deal with in other seasons.
But photographing snow is not an easy task, you have to be prepared for it. We have gathered ideas and tips for you so you can start your photography in the snow.
These tips can help you make your winter photography more effective and enjoyable.
Table of Contents
Snow can deceive your meter
One of the most important thing in Winter and Snow Photography is to get the right exposure. All camera metering systems are set to neutral tone or neutral gray. Landscapes covered with white snow affect the exposure of your camera meter’s and are likely to influence it. As a result, relying just on the camera’s meter to adjust the exposure can cause disappointing results when you realize that all snow-covered winter landscapes look dull gray. While this may be the thing you are trying to portray, you normally expect snow to look white nevertheless the lighting conditions.
Keep your camera cold
Have you ever noticed how fog covers your glasses immediately after entering warm place from cold? This can easily happen to your camera, blurring the mirror, causing damaging condensation inside the lens and also can short out electronic parts. Be careful not to place your camera under your coat in order that it will warm up or keep the battery from draining too fast, as your body warmth and moisture from sweating can be potentially harmful. Besides, there’s nothing worse than taking your camera outside for just one photo shoot, and expose it to the cold.
Take Winter and Snow Photography in raw (RAW)
For most types of photography, you should shoot in RAW format. But this point can be very important when photographing snow. The white snow will be the brightest and most prominent part of your images. And it can fill almost the entire frame.
RAW is an uncompressed format, it means that it involves the most detail. It makes processing easier and more effective. You can extract details from bright places.
Obviously, some older cameras, or even newer, lower-end models, are not capable of RAW shooting. However, if possible, take your images in RAW format. This gives you the most flexibility in post-production and allows you to easily solve the problems you encounter when shooting in JPEG format. If you are afraid of a larger file size, be sure to bring extra (or larger) cards (thing that you should have practiced before) to provide more size.
Create contrast
sunrises and sunsets look a little different in snowy times.
The red sky and then the blue hour create an interesting contrast with the white of snow.
Normally, the ground gets dark at first and the sky stays bright for a while longer. This changes in the snow because it reflects the rays of the sun as well and then reflects the light of the moon. Obviously the landscape will not be as bright white as it is in day time. But it can increase this phenomenon during post- processing.
When everything is white, autofocus causes a problem. So you have to be very careful and do your best to focus on an area with high contrast in your snow scene.
It helps to focus on something dark, such as the bark just below a lump of snow on a tree branch.
Press your shutter halfway. If the focus is not locked, move your focus point to a darker area of the subject and try once more. This trick usually works.
Use some bokeh in Winter and Snow Photography
A sunny winter day is an ideal time to create bokeh. And with so much snow and ice sparkling there, it shouldn’t be too difficult.
To create a bokeh in your photos, search a subject that has something bright or shiny in the background.
This can be light reflected off ice or melting snow. Use a wide aperture (such as f / 2.8 or f / 4) and assure that there is a distance between the subject and the shiny background.
With a less depth of field (from the wide aperture) focus will be on your subject, not on the shiny background elements.
Place the camera in a secure bag to avoid any damaging
Entering from a warm place to a cold place will affect your camera equipment.
And going back from a cold place to a warm place is also dangerous. It’s like when you wear glasses and you go somewhere, the glasses steam up rapidly. similar thing happens with your camera lens.
Moisture that gets inside your lens can cause lens fungus which is much harder to deal with than adjustment.
To prevent this, you should gently pack your equipment.
Use a zippered bag or any other kind of waterproof bag. Before returning to room temperature, put the camera inside it.
Set the whole package aside for a while to keep the moisture on the outside of the bag.
When the camera reaches the room temperature, you can take it out of the bag and use it normally. In this way, the camera reaches the temperature slowly.
Keep microfiber cloths and extra batteries with you
Cold weather in Winter and Snow Photography can cause high moist entering your camera. When photographing snow, microfiber cloths are essential.
Use these to repeatedly clean your lens and camera body. They won’t scratch your equipment, so you can clean it properly. If moist sits on your camera, it can freeze to a thin layer of ice, and you surely don’t want this to happen.
It goes without saying that the lens fungus it can cause if it enters inside.
Also, Cold weather makes your batteries run out quickly. Always keep at least one extra with you. If possible, keep it close to your body to keep it warm.
Do not let the weather stops you
One of the most important winter and snow photography tips we can offer you is to prepare for the weather.
It may seem silly at the beginning, but when you go out, you will see how good it is to remember this point.
When the weather gets cold, we like to stay indoor and enjoy being in warm rooms.
But do not let the weather stops you! In most areas, rarely it snows thus this offers a unique view of the world. Snowy landscape images are rarer than other types. Use these times to capture prominent images.
It is also a good time for street photography. People behave slightly different in the changing environment.
They can struggle with walking in the snow
Also, they can enjoy their time and make snowman with kids at the most unexpected places. Focus on these uncommon moments and use them to tell stories.
To do this, you need to wear thick clothes to stay warm. Wear a warm coat, scarf and hat. Wear gloves that allow you to press your camera buttons and use your phone’s touch screen.
Snow can be really shiny, so in sunny weather, it is recommended to wear sunglasses to prevent eye damage.
Use manual or aperture priority mode for shooting Winter and Snow Photography
By using manual mode, you will have full control over your settings, which makes shooting in snow so easy. You can get the most out of your photos by adjusting everything to what you like.
But when you feel cold, you may want to work with the camera settings as few as possible. You may select the aperture priority mode instead.
It will give you great freedom, but you can focus more on the depth of field you want. You adjust the aperture value, and then the camera adjusts the shutter speed and the ISO for you.