Tips for shooting snow

chuckojr · Feb 22, 2009

I just got a Caonon xs last week and was trying to shoot some snow pictures today and they all came out over/under exposed. I don't have anyway of posting them now since I'm not at home but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on shutter speed and av to use. I was shooting over a creek and trying to get the silky water effect by using a slower shutter speed, but that royally messed up the whites of the snow. Any tips?

TJ K · Feb 22, 2009

Lots of good stuff here just search on the websites search bar and there are a lot of great posts to help you out. Hope that helps!

dxqcanada · Feb 22, 2009

Exposure Compensation

mrodgers · Feb 22, 2009

If you have a lot of bright snow in the shot, that can confuse the meter in the camera and underexpose. It's a simple matter of either adjusting exposure compensation (EV) when using one of the semi-manual modes or just adjusting your settings for the meter to read higher than you normally would in manual mode.

I leave my particular camera at -1.0 EV or expose for -1.0 EV on the display in manual for normal usage. When I have a lot of snow, I will adjust to +1.0 on the EV/meter. Thus, I am actually adjusting by 2 stops because I am normally at -1.0. At least I think I am, it's been a while since I've had access to my photos and used the camera.

Experiment and adjust as necessary. Just remember that with a lot of snow, you have to add some exposure for it to come out right.