Title: Carve Out.

5 Helpful Tips for Photographing Snow and Ice

1. Adjust Your Exposure. Snow is brighter than your camera’s exposure records it. Your job is to make the snow look pristine white, lighten the exposure but keep texture in the brightest areas. I normally set my Exposure Compensation to +1 for snow in direct sun or +1.5 for snow under overcast skies. I also suggest that you use Spot Metering.

2. Dealing With Shadows. Shadows tend to go dark compared to sunlit snow. Cameras can’t record details in shadows even though your eyes can see it. So be aware of shadow areas and make them part of the composition. Depending on where you place your shadows - you can help bring out textures. So how do you fully avoid shadows? Cloudy days create no shadows, but a cloudy overcast can also make no textures visible in the snow. When this happens look for color subjects to add an accent to your shot.

3. Adjusting White Balance. We all know that snow is white and reveals the color of the light shining on it. Shadows on snow are the color of the sky - blue. Highlights are the color of the sun - yellow in the midday and pink around dawn/dusk. You can use Auto White Balance or even a preset Cloudy or Sunny White Balance to help with getting your snow back to pure white but 9 times out of 10 you will need to do some form of white balance adjustment in post process.

4. Capturing Falling Snow. If you want to record snowflakes falling through the air, find a dark background so the flakes will be visible. Try a shutter speed of 1/60 second or faster to stop their motion, or 1/30 to 1/15 second for streaks. One can also try fill flash for freeze falling flakes close to the camera.

5. The Frost Factor. Extremely low temperatures cause patterns of frost and ice… and they tend to make fascinating pictures. Avoid touching the item you are photographing as even the slightest touch will make the frost fall off. Just like your touch, the slightest breeze makes frost fall like snow! Because of this one needs to work fast and take advantage of the moment. For photographing frost and ice patterns on items I recommend that you get a dedicated Macro Lens or if you are just starting out use your cameras Macro Setting for recording the details. Whether you are using a DSLR or Point And Shoot one may also want to think about using a tripod to help hold the camera steady for a sharp shot. I mean it is winter… you are going to be extra shaky!