January 26th, 2008


26
Jan 08

Exposing for Winter Whites

Snow PolePhoto by Chickadeed

When your camera meter is pointed at a predominantly white snowy scene, the meter “thinks” that it is measuring a very bright scene and recommends an exposure that makes the white snow appear gray (midtone, or darker than white). Since most of us would like our snow to appear white, we need to overexpose from the meter reading (be sure to meter just snow). The amount of overexposure necessary to do this varies, depending upon the lighting conditions, the film that you are using, and just how white you want your snow to look.
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