I never claimed I would NOT ask stupid questions

[xjken99]

Like most of the eastern part of the U.S. we are about to get some decent snow and I intend to get out and take some pics. I know the snow can throw your camera meter off and while I do have a hand held light meter I am not sure how to use it. If I use the hand held meter should I hold the meter in front of me to catch the light falling on the snow or should I point the meter at the snow I am photographing? These will be landscape shots not portraits.

 

[Dominantly]

Is it a reflective or ambient measuring light meter?

Ambient, place is on your subject, in front of the camera, with the same light hitting it, that is hitting your subject.
Reflective, point it at your subject.

You could also use a gray card with your in camera TTL meter.

 

[the Virginian]

All meters, hand held or in camera, will average what it sees and expose for what is called a middle gray value. Predominately light subjects will be under exposed, while dark ones will be over exposed. Depending on your camera settings and how bright the snow is you'll need to over expose 1-2 stops, maybe more. If you're shooting digital, you can test shoot and adjust accordingly. With film, bracketing is the usual technique. I prefer to use an incident meter. It measures the ambient light about to hit the subject and couldn't care less about how light or dark the subject is. Sometimes I still need to compensate, but it's rare.

 

[compur]

I do have a hand held light meter I am not sure how to use it.

What meter is it? There may be an owners manual online.

 

[ChasK]

Since they are landscapes you could bracket your exposure, then combine them in Photoshop. That can eliminate areas that are too light or too dark.