Snow shooting?

[khaki123]

Hello! I am going to be shooting in snowy conditions for the first time, and I am feeling slightly overwhelmed. I've been doing some research, and it seems like manually overexposing 1-2 stops is the general consensus. What do you think? I plan on mostly shooting portraits of my family. I'm shooting with a Pentax K-1000, and I have 400 Tri-X, TMax, and HP5 to choose from. Which film do you think would serve the purpose best? And does anyone have any tips for metering? Should I meter on the subject then go up a couple stops from there? Thanks!

 

[Designer]

.. it seems like manually overexposing 1-2 stops is the general consensus. What do you think?

First of all, you will not be trying to overexpose. You are trying to get the exposure correct.

Secondly; how is your meter set? If your meter has multiple modes of metering protocol, how do you have it set? If it is "average" or "matrix", then it is measuring the light from the snow. If it is set to "spot", then it depends on where your spot is positioned.

My suggestion is to set it to "spot", and point it at your subject. Also, pay attention to the shadows. If your subject's face is in deep shadow, you're going to need to add light. WHAT???? Use flash in bright sunlight? Yes, use flash in bright sunlight. Even more so than in overcast conditions.

 

[timor]

.. it seems like manually overexposing 1-2 stops is the general consensus. What do you think?

First of all, you will not be trying to overexpose. You are trying to get the exposure correct.

Secondly; how is your meter set? If your meter has multiple modes of metering protocol, how do you have it set? If it is "average" or "matrix", then it is measuring the light from the snow. If it is set to "spot", then it depends on where your spot is positioned.

My suggestion is to set it to "spot", and point it at your subject. Also, pay attention to the shadows. If your subject's face is in deep shadow, you're going to need to add light. WHAT???? Use flash in bright sunlight? Yes, use flash in bright sunlight. Even more so than in overcast conditions.

Pentax K1000 has no metering protocols or spot.

 

[timor]

Hello! I am going to be shooting in snowy conditions for the first time, and I am feeling slightly overwhelmed. I've been doing some research, and it seems like manually overexposing 1-2 stops is the general consensus. What do you think? I plan on mostly shooting portraits of my family. I'm shooting with a Pentax K-1000, and I have 400 Tri-X, TMax, and HP5 to choose from. Which film do you think would serve the purpose best? And does anyone have any tips for metering? Should I meter on the subject then go up a couple stops from there? Thanks!

I don't think it is a good idea to shoot portraits in harsh light conditions. Too much contrast with the sun and snow, with K1000 you can only guess correct exposure and that not good enough for portrait.
In any case TMY (TMAX 400) will be best choice, HP 5 last unless you need to make harsh looking portrait.
Yes, flash is valid option in harsh light conditions to chase away deep shadows from faces.

 

[webestang64]

T-Max, fresh battery's in camera, meter off a gray card, add fill flash and bracket exposure.

 

[Derrel]

Many times in snowy conditions, there is a HUGE amount of shadow fill-in light provided by the light coming off of the snow, which acts as a big, honking reflector fill source, so there's not always any need whatsoever for fill-in lighting from flash. "It all depends" of course, on where the light is coming from, and where the people are facing, and how much fill lighting their faces actually are receiving.

If you meter directly off of snow, and want it to end up as detailed white, then slow down the shutter about 1.5 to 1.7 EV from the meter reading, or open the lens aperture size "up" (a wider hole, like moving from f/16 at 1/500 second to a wider lens aperture, like f/8).

EV is Exposure Value.

 

[paigew]

When I have shot in the snow I generally do ETTR ( expose to the right). I meter off my subjects face making sure not to blow out the snow [emoji300]️


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