In the previous post we discussed some tips and problems that a photographer might face while shooting winter landscapes on a sunny day. In this post we will discuss other types of winter photography and tips to get the most out of your winter photos.

Sunny days are wonderful for landscape photography. However, overcast days are perfect for portraits. The overcast will create diffused lighting that will help accentuate details and create soft shadows that make a person seem more natural than posed. The soft light will also prevent your subject from squinting due to the bright light. If you are looking for something a little more interesting to photograph try shooting at dusk or early in the morning.

The days in winter are short, this is not a bad thing, it does mean that you only have a few hours to find a subject (if you can scout out an area a day or two ahead of time). Winter the sunrises and sunsets are longer than normal this gives a photographer more opportunities to express their creativity or capture a stunning photograph of a sunrise. Sunset is one of the best times for winter photography. While the sun is low above the horizon it will provide sufficient lighting for photography and create long shadows that can bring out the detail in the snow.

After sunset a photographer is presented with another opportunity. Snowy landscapes illuminate brightly under light from the moon. You can also try to capture a night snowfall for a unique photo. During this time you should try to avoid using a flash and grab a tripod and set your camera to use extended exposures.

We all know that winter is a cold time and shooting at night can be that much colder. Make sure that you are bundled up correctly to avoid dreaded frostbite. Also, you should be aware that your camera is not impenetrable to the cold. Cameras are susceptible to frost, they can withstand it for about a half hour and should be put in a bag, wrapped in a warm cloth or inside you jacket so that it remains warmer than the outside conditions. You wouldn’t want a photograph of a snowy landscape to be the last photograph for your camera.

Have extra batteries:
For any professional photographer this may seem like a no brainer but for those of us that have a limited amount of batteries, we tend to not carry extras.

Alkaline batteries work well in cold weather. However, cold weather will reduce the amount of shots you can get from a single battery. It is not uncommon for them to drain in an hour or less. So carry an extra set of batteries in one of your inner pockets where they will stay warm to extend its cold-weather performance.

Fool your light meter:
Your camera’s light meter uses a gray scale for average picture taking conditions. When taking pictures of snow this can cause dull and lifeless photographs, try to over exposing your pictures by one or two f/stops.

Scared of damaging your expensive camera?
If you are scared that you may damage your nice camera go out and get yourself a one-time use camera. The built-in flash helps cut shadows cause by the bright sunlight and water-resistant models are great for shots of snowboarding, skiing and sledding, though they do not have a built in flash.

Night pictures:
Night photos tend to have a more balanced look to them and can be accomplished from the light of the moon. The landscape lights up under the light of the moon and the reflection of the snow. Just be sure to use proper nighttime photography techniques and dress appropriately; night tends to be more frigid then the day.

Keep your camera dry:
If you get a snowflake on your lens, remove it with a lint-free brush. That one water droplet can drastically reduce the quality of your photos.

Condensation:
Condensation is a big problem when taking you camera between a warm and cold environment. Try putting your camera in a zip-lock bag before going inside and the condensation will form on the bag not the camera.

Rewinding film:
If you are shooting with a film camera that automatically rewinds exposed film, in dry, cold weather, it may cause static streaking on your film. To prevent this when you are done shooting remove the batteries and bring the camera indoors to warm. Once your camera and film warm back to room temperature replace the batteries and let the film rewind.

Add a Filter:
There seems to be too many gray skies during the winter. Use a graduated filter to color the sky while leaving the foreground natural.

Waking up to the sight of early morning snow, shimmering trees and yards filled with snow angels. Capturing that perfect moment is all that you wish for. All of this sounds easy, Right? But for an amateur photographer this can sound laborious and challenging. You’ll have to remember a few things as winter photography is much different from shooting in the summer or fall. It can be downright tricky.

Another big challenge with winter photography is attitude. If you are thinking that it is cold outside and you would rather stay inside with hot chocolate and curl up in front of the fireplace, you photographs will reflect that. You need to get excited as you would with any other photo opportunity and enjoy tackling the winter full-hearted. Everyone will be able to see your enthusiasm in your photographs and they will turn out much better.

Winter photography requires imagination, technical skills and some good luck (we all know that winter scenery is not that diverse). The main difficulty with winter photography is exposure. One thing that we can do to account for the bright snow is to set our cameras to beach/snow mode if available. Otherwise, you will need to use manual settings (read my previous post to learn how to account for different settings). Using a flash can also help, as it will bring out the highlights and details that might not be captured without it. However avoid using a flash if you are shooting close shots as the possible reflection may greatly reduce the detail in your photo.

Remember it is winter time you need to protect yourself as well. Tell someone where you are going and when you are to return, you will be glad if anything happens. Also, keep warm winter weather can be extremely cold and frostbite is not worth that million dollar photo. Most of all have fun winter is a challenging time to take photographs and if keep at it, you will find yours photos most rewarding.

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
METER READING—-MEDIUM TONED SUBJECT
-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.

“No two snowflakes are alike.” It’s a phrase repeated so often that most of us accept it as fact. Though it’s not a scientific idea at all — it was simply a theory posited in 1898 by Wilson Bentley, the very first snowflake photographer, who captured close to 5,000 crystals in his lifetime.

Unlike Bentley, who put snowflakes on slides and attached a bellows camera to a compound microscope, you can use a regular Digital SLR or Digital point-and-shoot. Also, where Bentley posed his flakes on a black background, you can shoot them wherever you see them — “whether they are on wood, or stone, or on you friends shoelace.” If they are on other snow, you can still photograph them by tilting your camera to catch the sunlight on a different flake.

Shooting snowflakes is easy — just follow these tips:
• Get in as close as the camera will let you — usually about 2 inches. Hold the camera steady, and shoot from as many angles as possible.
• Aim for snowflakes that are on surfaces with clean lines and that are positioned at an angle so early morning or late afternoon sunlight can bring out details. And it also helps to find flakes in the ‘twilight zone’ areas of the snow — not in full sun or quite full shadow. This is so the background of the sunlit flake is the cobalt blue shadow that snow has on sunny days.
• Large, soft flakes photograph better than small, bright ones. You can find them at diameters up to 5mm. You need to have a lot of moisture in the air to find snowflakes this large and it needs to be bitter cold.
• Nearly windless days are ideal for snowflake hunting, to up the likelihood of finding crystals intact. Colder temperatures help to keep their little arms from melting off before you can get to them.

I challenge you to find two that are alike. Good luck in your hunting and be warm.