Snow Photography

Jan 15

Photography in the Snow

Well, People are always asking me about some ideas of taking pictures in the snow and why they come out so crummy. Well I decided to write a small article on some understanding of the Art of photographing snow and people in the snow.
Well let’s start off by saying for all of you that want to run around your neighborhood and take pictures of really cool snow angels, icicles and tons of snow on roof tops, let me tell you the first rule of thumb. Dress warm, need I go any further on this. If you are uncomfortable as you walk around shooting your images will reflect what you are feeling. Cold. If you would rather be inside with a cup of hot coffee by a fireplace instead of being outside, then you shouldn’t be.
First of all, know your camera. Plays around with it at home on the inside know all the settings. Know how to change it to Auto mode (which sometimes is not the best) Know where all the settings are on the camera and know when o shut it off and put it away. So now that you are an expert on your camera you are ready to brave the cold outside.
The extremely white snow that you will be shooting against will for the most part underexpose a scenery photograph that you might want to photograph. What that basically means is that the camera is not adjusting the aperture enough to allow the image to be taken without it having to be blown out. The camera is adjusting the scene the way it sees fit and most of the time it’s not to our liking. So either it will blow out the scene or make it very dullish grey. Most of the time Dullish grey. I read somewhere; another photographer posted a small saying which is a rule of thumb I go by when I do shoot outside. “If it’s Light add Light”. Which basically means “ADD FILL IN LIGHT” turn on the flash on your camera even in harsh sunlight and let the camera expose for the flash? 9 out of 10 times, you should have a pretty good image.
Well I will post more later on in the blog. I have added a few Images to the bottom of this blog. They are not my images but very inspiring images. These should want to make you go out in the snow, up in the mountain area and shoot.