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.
For starters, a one stop overexposure is a safe bet to whiten just a bit, and is my recommendation for those using print films (because of its great latitude). A +1 exposure is also likely to be your best bet on overcast days. A 1.5 – 2 stop overexposure is generally where I find that I like my snow scenes. This is generally the range for slide film users where the snow will appear bright, but still retain detail. This is also a good start on overcast but bright days. If you like your snow very clean and bright with little detail, use a +2.5 – 3 stop overexposure, especially on very bright, cloudless days.
In all cases, and especially if you are using slide film, bracket your exposures. I sometimes find that my starting exposure is not always the most appealing when the film comes back from the lab.
If you are using an automatic (point and shoot camera) and you have an exposure lock button, you can compensate by using the following procedure:
Fill the frame of the viewfinder with a DARKER area and depress the exposure lock button. The camera meter will overexpose the scene based upon the dark area that you metered. Caution needs to be exercised so that the metered scene is not too dark. To make sure that you get the shot, shoot at least one metered in this way, and another exposed automatically.
| +2 ½ stops open | textures white |
| +2 stops open | white with detail |
| +1 ½ stops open | very light |
| +1 stop open | light |
| +½ stop open | darker light |
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METER READING—-MEDIUM TONED SUBJECT |
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| -½ stop open | lighter dark |
| -1 stop open | dark |
| -1½ stops open | very dark |
| -2 stops open | dark with detail |
| 2 ½ stops open | BLACK |
The overcast snow scene above is pretty much lifeless and boring. This is how the camera recorded the scene with center weight, aperture priority metering. Sometimes you need to trick you camera into telling it that it needs more exposure for the overall scene. By adding a 1 stop exposure increase to the scene; look what happens to this winter wonderland scene.
Tags: Winter