While being relatively new to the professional side of photography, I have learned a few tips about taking photos in the snow. Other than the general cold and ice, photos in the snow can be challenging, below are a few tips that may help other starting photographers.
Start with composition – what is it that you want to capture? Is it a child playing in the snow or a landscape? I have found that determining your aperture first is key to composition. I find that for a focused face and a blurred background (shallow depth of field) – f/1.2- f/4. To get more in focus use a narrower aperture – f/8 – f/16.
I find that shutter speed is my next step. Do I want snow frozen in midair or slightly blurry? If I’m working with kids, I generally set the shutter speed to 1/500. This gives a good freeze time for them and enough movement in the snow to create a great effect.
This is where I find sometimes the images come out too dark or “under-exposed”. This is due to how our camera evaluates the light in the scene. Your camera works by averaging the odds, and the white snow confuses. You can either change the ISO or use the exposure compensation. Upping the ISO too much will result in grainy images – so take this into consideration. With the exposure compensation – any number above zero increases brightness, and any number below decreases it. For snow I have found that increasing exposure by “+1” is a good start then adjust as needed.
Some final tips...
- Shoot photos in RAW – it gives you the best control over the final look of the image when editing.
- Protect your equipment! – rapid temperature changes can cause condensation buildup inside the camera.
- Taking pictures at blue or golden hour provide great results.
- HAVE Fun!!!! – throw snow, make snow angels, just have fun.
