Snow filters

[will965]

I'm going skiing over christmas and I was wondering what filters I need to get the best results. I already have a UV filter but do I need any others (polarising etc).

 

[Jamie R]

What you need is a filter to weed out all of those yuppie tourists in shellsuits when shooting in the snow. These are very expensive. Otherwise a high quality UV filter and contrasty film will do. Certain film don't register snow well; some add casts. Cheap polarisers tint the snow as well. The last thing you want is a filter to intensify the saturation and then find that you've also intensified the contrast beyond hope.

If you're shooting slide film, Fuji Astia is very good at managing the contrast range (Velvia is definitely out). Fuji Sensia is cheap and fairly neutral as well as Provia. Negative film handles snow much better of course. Choosing your film is the more critical task; adding filters don't necessarily help much - just degrades the image way too much. Avoid warm-up filters unless there is ambient blue light and little natural sunlight otherwise marmalade snow won't go down well with the guys back home drooling over the snapshots.

Above all, enjoy the holiday and bring a spare pack of batteries. Walrus warmers and moose pom-poms on a furry hat also help make better images.