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Snowing out? Looking for Snow photography tips? Lets get into it so that you can take some great snow photos.
There is another article on shooting in raw but specifically it should be used while shooting in snow. Snow can often be very difficult to photograph. The snow can leave glares, have odd depths and create unintended shadows. Snow also can bring more depth to your photo if you shoot it right!
When you are shooting raw photos you can retain more information in the highlights and the shadows for editing. When it comes to editing this can help you define the final style of the photo.
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Use the histogram - many times white are under or overexposed due to the LED screen. You can also try turning on highlights so that you know what is getting seen and what isn’t.
The image below by Photography Pro shows what is looks like generally with snow
The histogram also show what is too dark in the image, this would be underexposed.
Snow photos will often have the images skewed to the right.
The right is the brightest part of the image for the luminosity channel. When it “clips” to the right side and the top this means that the image is overexposed. If you are not shooting raw then this means that the photo will be difficult to recover any of that information.
Why would you want to save that information if it is just white? Well you will end up with blobs of white throughout the image.
Specifically during the snow, your histogram will skew towards the right.
Use a lens hood to block off sun. This is more important in the winter time than in the summer. The winter days are shorter and so your time of shooting may have harsh shadows and contrasts with the snow. It can look cool with a lens flare but to keep that off being out a lens hood
Winter sunrises differ from those in other seasons. The lower angle of the sun creates softer light, but snow dust in the air can add an ethereal glow to your photos. Experiment with these conditions to create captivating sunrise shots
Image by Photo by Miro Alt
Try getting snowflakes- your free done with the use a flash or attempt to do micro photography
Bring extra blankets, something to dry off your camera. Take out camera batteries so that they won’t get damaged wet or get colds this can cause issues with the camera and battery. Any other additional batteries should also be tucked away around things that can stay warm. Also think of bringing a small rag to wrap your batteries in.
Avoid water damage to batteries and cameras by always warming up your cameras and bringing a cloth in case of condensation.
Prepare your camera ahead of time. Have your settings down or an idea of what you need. Running back and forth is not good.
Preparing Artisitcally
Additional items to consider bringing
Photo by Mikhail Nilov
Electronic Batteries may be best suited to be put somewhere warm. either buried between blankets or near your body. Anything that drains battery due to the cold can have a laster battery life if you insulate them. This is essnetial to making sure you have enough juice for entirety of a photoshoot.
Try to use bracketing. Bracketing always allows you to bring multiple exposures into a final image. Super important for getting the detail of snow. Snow can be given a defined look.
Besides bringing warm coats here are some additional things to bring. Think about foot wear in particular. When scaling a mountain or going through snow it man be looking for foot wear that has grips and spikes on them.
Get gloves that are warm, also considering looking into investing in gloves that work with your camera. Having warm hands is extremly helpful when moving around and operating a camera in the cold.
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Spikes can be great to make sure that you can secure yourself. You can also think of boots that are able to keep you steady on slippery snow. Trekking poles may also be important if you are going uphill.
Camera gear for extreme weather is something that many worry about. Some professional cameras are not made the same as others. What are the best cameras? What is the average temperature that a camera can or should stay at?
Different camera brands like Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Olympus and Fiji are best for cold weather.
Many of these cameras are advertised as weather resistant. Generally this means around the point of 30 degrees celsius.
Why should you keep this in mind? Changes in temperature from the outdoor to indoors can cause dew on your camera lens. This can slow down taking photos & ruin your lens if you don’t properly take care of them.
Use a camera bag when traveling to reduce condensation. Make sure it is zipped
Do not attempt to change lenses. This can ruin the camera.
Suggest keeping an actual battery in your pocket. Warm close to your body. Your body releases heat. Keep in a layered pocket. And bring extras
If your camera has more than manual settings, try using these to lower the amount of settings you need to use. Although it is good to know your settings, it may be more difficult to get to them when you are wearing gloves.
Some cameras also have the options to change the settings of the buttons, this can make shooting faster and more comfortable during the winter.
Changing to aperture priority will limit your settings solely to the aperture settings and create an auto feature on the rest of the settings. TV or shutter speed mode will limit your settings to the shutter speed. If you combine clouds and snow can create different lights very fast
When you first go out in the snow you can get very different colors. Sometimes it can be extremely blue or extremely yellow. the best balance is somewhere in the middle. It may be worth going toward a warmer Kelvin number.
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