I think i am getting it...

[his4ever]

Ok so it started to snow and it was night and I have some cool lights in my neighborhood. I thought hmmm... lets see what I can capture. So I set out with my camera and did not really capture anything.

I went out with my camera set at 400 iso. If I really wanted to get the snow in the picture should I lower or raise the iso? I was hoping to have the surrounding area very dark but the light shining on the road with snow flakes falling underneath. How can I go about it better? Thanks.

 

[darich]

if it was me.......i'd keep the ISO low and use a tripod. when it's dark the camera needs longer exposures so a tripod or some other support is essential. You're right about increasing the ISO when it's dark though.

It also depends on exactly what you're trying to capture. if it's stationary objects and you're shooting from a spot where you don't need to move too quickly eg a road, then i'd go with a tripod. If you're shooting from a road though then ISO up and hand hold. or use a street lamp for support.

Changingthe ISO isn't necessary to capture snow - it can be done at any ISO rating. It depends on the circumstances and your object as to whether the ISO should be changed.

 

[his4ever]

Well I was looking more to do stationary with the tripod... had that all set up... but I wanted to capture the light beam from the street lamp with snow under it. Didnt want anything else in the picture. Thanks tho

 

[auer1816]

Take two shots, one with the exposure to make the dark stuff dark and one with the exposure to get the light parts lighter. You'll then have to do some photo editing and merging, but you can get a much better range when you do this -- it's called HDR (High Dynamic Range). If you can manage to get the whole shot in one exposure, you can change levels and curves for each area of the photo using masks.

 

[Garbz]

Raising or lowering the iso would not change the balance of light in the picture. The only way to do that is to change the light, filter the light at the lens (hard), or post process (most intuitive I think).

 

[ericande]

It sounds like you need to do some work on the photo in the computer to create the image you are looking for.

 

[Mike_E]

If you have a flash with a manual setting or just a very weak flash, set the camera on the tripod and shoot as before to get the landscape right and in the middle of the exposure point and fire the flash where you want to accentuate the snowfall. If you are using a low setting on the flash, you will only light up the snow as the flash won't go more than 10 feet or so which shouldn't affect your street. (point it so that the bottom of the cone of light misses the ground) For more information look up painting with light (this isn't exactly what I'm talking about but you can see the possibilities). have fun, mike

 

[EOS_JD]

If you want to capture snow flakes falling you need a shutter speed that will stop the flakes and no more. Slow shutter speeds will give blur or slower will leave the flakes absent altogether.

High ISO, fast lens and car lights /street lights could work well to light up the scene. Possibly even your car lights.

 

[xfloggingkylex]

If you want to capture snow flakes falling you need a shutter speed that will stop the flakes and no more. Slow shutter speeds will give blur or slower will leave the flakes absent altogether.

High ISO, fast lens and car lights /street lights could work well to light up the scene. Possibly even your car lights.

I carry a LED flashlight in my bag at all times so I can light objects as needed. Its nice because it produces very clean light (think HID lights like on the BMW's and Audi's) so white balance doesnt become a problem.