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. 

For this next image, I shot it at -0-. What I mean is that I didn't over-expose it at all from what the built-in light meter thought I needed. In this case, what it thought I needed and what I wanted were one and the same. Why was that? In addition to the white snow, if you look closely, there is also a lot of other colors that off-set the white snow. There is, first of all, the blue house that takes up a considerable amount of space on the screen; the viewfinder. There are also tan trees, a couple of evergreens, the retaining wall along the street, etc. 

Now, here is a different type of scenario. I chose a -1 stop exposure for this one! Snow? Yes.

However, if you were to cut out all of the non-white areas in this scenario and place them on one side of the scale, then cut out the snow areas and place them on the opposite side of the scale, there are more non-white areas than white areas. Therefore, I liked the look and feel of the photo taken at a -1 stop exposure. The question is, again, not, "What exposure should I give it?" but "Which exposure do I like best?" The latter question gives you the right exposure.

I'll leave you with one more examples, just so that you can see the broad range of possibilities when shooting anything in the snow. I got this shot at an exposure of +2.5 stops! So, as you can see, what we think the exposure should be is not the same as the exposure that looks just how we like it.

I hope that after this last example, you now understand that it's not about left brain technical answers, but right brain likes and dislikes. Hypothetically, yes, for any given scenario, if I want the snow to look white, I might have to go an extra 1/2 to +1 stops. However, if I like the look and feel of the scene, the image, at less than that, then that is, once again, the right exposure. 

This scene was shot at +2.5 stops over exposure. 

 

It is almost November. In many parts of the world, it's winter, and there is snow out there on any given day. Have fun experimenting, testing out, and getting that exposure of snow that feels right for you! Have fun.

If you would like a 1-on-1 ZOOM lesson on this topic, feel free to contact me.