SHOOTING IN THE SNOW
Although my theme for my
tip this month is "shooting in the snow," the principles I will cover
also apply to photographing any white or very bright subject-- white houses, dogs, horses,
or bright skies, brightly-lit subjects, and so on. Please keep this in mind as I talk about what to be
mindful of when shooting in the snow.
So, why do these tips apply to anything
that is white or very bright? It has to do that that built-in light meter that is built into all cameras. And, those light meters work the same whether they are in a $750-dollar camera or a $5,000 camera. Bottom line: Whether you shoot something
white/ bright or black/dark, it will try to give you a gray or mid-tone subject! In other words,
if you're not careful, both white snow or a black cat will look "grayish." You're scratching
your head, right?
Let me explain. The built-in light meter was designed correctly, based on the engineering intent--to try and lighten anything that is too dark or black, and to darken anything that is too white or light. The good news is that they do what they were engineered to do. The bad news is that what the engineers think I need, is not the same thing as what I want.
Okay, let's think of black and white photography for a minute. Think of a black and white photo. The engineers designed those built-in meters to give us gray snow, not white snow. Don't believe me? Set your camera on auto exposure mode and go out and take a picture of white snow, or anything white. Make sure that you your subject (snow or white object) fills 80%-100% of your viewfinder. Your subject will not look white. It will look "grayish." Go see for yourself.
Here are a couple of low-resolution examples as proof. Shooting on Aperture-priority, I photographed these (white) aspens against (white) snow. This is what the built-in light meter gave me. See photo on the left. "Grayish," right? Now, when I took the picture again, but increased my exposure by +1 2/3, I got white aspens against white snow--bingo!
You don't have to understand exactly why it works that way. It's enough to know that it does. The important thing to know is that when you encounter this type of scenario, take the photo at, say, +2/3, +1, or + 1 2/3. Just experiment until you get what you want. How much you overexpose any given scenario needs depends on the situation, like overcast day v. bright sunny day; whether there are other colors in the scene besides white, etc. There is no set formula, thus the need to "bracket" your shots until you get what you........want. There is no such thing as the "correct" exposure. There is only the right exposure, and we decide what's right for us.
Now that I have explained why and how to compensate what the built-in light meter will try to do to us, let me share some additional examples of images created in-camera, in the snow.
In this scenario, an exposure of +1.5 stops gave me what I wanted. So, please don't ask yourself, "Should I over-expose it by +1, + 1 1/3, + 1.5, or a +2?" There are just too many variables, including how your own camera is calibrated, to try to come up with a technical formula. It is more productive, and more effective, to understand the concept, rather than look for a formula. How do you want your photo to look? I could have easily over-exposed this scene by a +2 stops instead of +1.5 stops, but I liked the way it looked. It "feels" cold.
If you would like a 1-on-1 ZOOM lesson on this topic, feel free to contact me.