Advice on photography in the snow

Well, just signed on the dotted line (and paid my entire savings!) to go on a trip where I will encounter something completely alien to me - snow.
This is something I have very seldom had dealings with and never had to take photographs in.
Does anyone have any advice on how to expose correctly for snow? Most of the animals will be dark coloured and it seems like it is often overcast there, so my limited knowledge is completely useless. I am assuming bracketing will help, but I am so used to battling against light that is way too hard or bright that low light, dark subjects and white backgrounds are really going to throw me.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Sounds exciting Sam - where you off to?

Hopefully Phil or Grant who have experience in Snow will pop over with some tips!

No idea, but I also want to be nosey and ask where you are going!

Some general snow tips:

You quite often get flat pale sky in winter so consider a ND Grad filter to retain clouds / balance out the sky.

With so much being bright, the camera’s exposure meter will tend to give you the wrong reading, resulting in underexposed shot where white snow appears grey. Good practice to overexpose by one stop.

Most white balance settings struggle with snow. If it's overcast the 'cloudy' setting is OK but if it's sunny you tend to get a blue hue so best to set your own custom white balance from a nice clean patch of snow.

Shoot in RAW mode so you've still more options to mess about with your white balance afterwards if it's not right.

When it's way below zero you will find that your lens gets fogged up each time you get out of the car or take the camera out of the bag. It will clear after a few mins on it's own - I find if I wipe it off it then smears every time it fogs up.

Keep your batteries (worth getting spares) in an inner pocket.

Some folk use a polarizing filter too.

You can use fill flash to reduce contrast between the subject and the bright snowy backround.

For wildlife - this may help more......

http://www.bbcwildlifemagazine.com/W...ass_FINAL2.pdf

Hi Sam.

When shooting in snow you will need to use exposure compensation as your cameras meter reading won't give you the correct exposure in snow and so, your camera will under expose. How much should you over expose by? that depends on your camera and the subject you are shooting, but I would guess you will have to over expose by at least 1 full stop. I'm not sure what settings you normally use to take images but you will have to use one that will allow exposure compensation, e'g aperture priority, shutter priority or full manual. Since it will be mostly overcast, then changing the white balance to "Cloudy" should work just fine or if you are shooting in RAW mode then you can adjust that easily when converting your images, if you are not using RAW mode then I'd suggest getting the white balance correct before shooting.
Bracketing your images will help as well but if shooting in RAW mode then I would not bother as any more - or + exp compensation needed can be corrected in PP easily. I know you will be using the Canon 40d and as far as I can remember, the screen was not very good for judging a good exposure or sharpness so I would suggest using the histogram to judge your exposures.

Here is an image of Loki I took on February this year, as you can see (in the exif) I shot this with my 5d MkII and over exposed by +1.7, if I had used the 40d it would certainly have been higher.



Here is another one taken with the 40d March 08



btw hope you enjoy your holiday in the snow

Didn't mean to repeat some stuff Phil had posted as I took ages to post and he sneaked in front of me

It would be good practice here this morning - brrrrrrrrrrrrr

Phil and DJ, many thanks for the advice – it really is much appreciated. I am going to try to get some practice in using the advice, so may well have more questions. The question of condensation in the camera/lens is certainly going to be an issue, so I will follow your advice. I am trying to get hold of some ND and graduated filters of decent quality – seems to be ridiculously difficult where I am. I typically shoot RAW on shutter priority so hopefully would be able to correct some problems I will create to a certain extent with pp. I am taking spare batteries (and cards) – I have been told that portable hand warmers are ideal to keep batteries from losing their charge – failing that, I will wear them against my skin.
The 40D screen is not great to judge much more than composition – so I will use the histogram – another learning curve!

DJ – those shots are stunning – I hope I can achieve even a fraction of the quality.


Azz and LM, thanks for asking, in terms of where I am going, the “photographic” bits will start in El Clafate in Patagonia, where I’m planning to do a trek over the Perito Moreno Glacier (apparently crampons are supplied - who knew?)
From there I go down to Ushuaia (right on the tip of Argentina, apparently the southern most city in the world) for a few days. I am planning to spend some time in the Tierra Del Fuego region there (Mountains of Fire - the scenery looks spectacular, but I think you would be very lucky to get any shots of any wildlife!)
Then I board a small (48 passenger) vessel and head off for the Falkland Islands (where hopefully I would be able to see magellanic penguin breeding rookeries, the black-browed albatross, rockhopper penguins, blue-eye shags, kelp geese, and maybe even the striated caracara amongst other wildlife and marine life.
From there, we sail even further into the middle of nowhere to South Georgia (where we might get a chance to photograph the wandering albatross, elephant seals in their breeding grounds, fur seals, the second largest king penguin breeding colony in the world, macaroni penguins, and gentoo penguins.)
Around that time we should also start seeing icebergs appearing from down south!
That area also has a fantastic history of explorers – Ernest Shackleton, Captain James Cook, Robert Scott etc. And of course the whaling history – there seem to be plenty of deserted, crumbling whaling stations and shipwrecks in the area, some of which we can visit. Apparently the South Georgia Islands are very dramatic and beautiful – the photos I have seen have been spectacular.
Then there’s the long haul further south to the South Shetland Islands (elephant seals, chinstrap penguins, cape petrels, nesting skuas, gentoo penguins, black beaches and more deserted whaling stations.
And then we head into the deep freeze – the Antarctic Peninsula (icebergs calving, antarctic blue-eyed shags, the Lemaire Channel – called Fuji Funnel or Agfa Alley because it is so beautiful, crabeater seals, leopard seals, minke whales, orcas, adelie penguins, etc can be seen there.
Then it’s the run back across the Drake Passage to Ushuaia.
For someone used to taking photos in shorts and a t-shirt, the weather is going to present plenty of challenges. Also, the time stuck on a boat (we will be at sea for around 3 weeks) is going to be a challenge, I am just not used to that kind of restriction.
But, all that aside, I think it should be very interesting, and provided I can get the photography right, I am hoping to be able to get some pictures that will contrast fairly sharply with the ones I usually take!

Sorry – very long rambling post!

Sounds like an amazing experience - I'm very jealous.

You might struggle to get a copy but the Christmas Edition (Issue 121) of the magazine Outdoor Photography is all about Snow and Ice photos including Interview with BBC Ploar photographer Doug Allen.

http://www.thegmcgroup.com/item--Out...y--1006OP.html




.

Sounds awesome Sam!! I am sure you are going to have a brilliant time and I can't wait to see your pics when you get back! I wonder how you will cope, having lived in such a hot place for so long (I hate the cold myself lol).

Excellent advice Phil + Grant!