After a long winter’s night all snuggled deep beneath the blankets of my bed there, is nothing I love more than opening up the blinds to find the

mountains have been covered by their own blanket of snow. I love the way the morning sun glistens off of it as though someone had sprinkled

glitter over the ground. I love the way it has the slightest blue cast, but most of all I love the look it produces on the mountains and the feeling of freshness.

The first few times I photographed in the snow I was plagued by washed out, over exposed, underexposed, and everything in between of my

photographs. After a lot of trial and error along with some diligent research and reading of my camera’s manual I have come up with the following
tips for taking the perfect photograph in the snow.
 

Problems that may arise:
 

* The bright sun is bouncing off the snow causing my subject to be lit too brightly, therefore underexposing my subject.
* The snow doesn’t’ appear to be crisp and white in my final images. Cameras are designed to expose for the middle grey, thereby turning

brilliant white snow muddy and underexposed. Most cameras assume that everything they photograph reflects 18% of the light and exposes accordingly.

Solutions for Point and shoot Cameras

     * If at all possible take your photos in the morning or late afternoon hours. The sunlight at these hours is less “white” resulting in a softer hue.
* Place your subject in the shade
* Use your built in flash as a “fill flash” to lighten the faces and dark areas.
* Use a 100 ISO setting for “film” speed on the digital camera if you can.
* Focus on a non-white object. The darker colored jacket of one of your subjects, the dark part of a tree covered in snow.
* Zoom in on your subject’s faces and lock the focus. Then zoom out and compose the image while still holding the focus.
* Some digital point and shoots actually have a snow setting. Use it and experiment to see if you like that setting.
 

Solutions for SLR cameras
 

* Exposure compensation (EC) is an easy way to get around your camera’s tendency to underexpose bright subjects and overexpose dark ones. EC lets you quickly add or subtract from 1/3 to 2 stops. You can also bracket several shots in a row, with each image having a slightly different exposure.
* When photographing snow you’ll want to experiment with adding more exposure.
* You can also shoot in RAW format and change your exposure compensation on a computer using your software.
* Use a custom white balance following your camera’s manual.
 

If you plan to photograph outside for an extended period of time you may want to follow some of these precautions.

* Cold batteries die faster. Keep them warm. Use hand warmers in the camera case and keep it close to your body. Bring extra batteries too.
* Give your camera time to acclimate when going from cold to warm temperatures.
* A good trick to help prevent condensation build up is to seal your camera in a plastic ziplock bag. Seal the camera completely inside the bag

BEFORE moving indoors. Leave the camera in the bag until it’s had a chance to warm up to room temperature.
 

There’s nothing like a fresh snowfall to make your photographs truly dramatic! Take the time to read your camera’s manual and experiment. With

the price of digital vs. film now a day, there’s no reason not to take a lot of images of one scene. You’re not burning through rolls of film and all you

have to do is down load them onto the computer and pick and choose what you want. I once heard the difference between a professional

photographer and an amateur was the size of their waist basket!!!  Happy Shooting!!