Its once again going to snow in Jammu Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand as a strong ‘western disturbance’ is approaching the Himalayas. So if you’re making plans to go to Manali, Kullu, Shimla or Nainital to catch some snow, here are some very useful tips to photograph the snow correctly. No matter how good a camera you have, snow can make images blurry or over exposed and spill beans over precious, unforgettable memories.
Snowy landscapes are among the trickiest to photograph with digital cameras. The exposure and white balance settings can easily be fooled by the bright lighting conditions. Whether the sky is overcast or the sun is shining, special care must be taken to avoid messing up the colors completely. The very bright snow acts as a second light source by reflecting sunlight shining on the ground.
1) When snow is falling, use a slow shutter speed to capture the movement of the snowflakes. This is more efficient if there is adequate light source in your image.
2) Use the flash to fix the movement of the snowflakes. Don’t be surprised, a flash is not only useful at night but is extremely useful during the day too! A flash could improve images that could otherwise look dull, blurred or hazy.
3) Shoot during the Golden Hours, when the sun is low on the horizon, to capture the texture and shape of the snow on what would otherwise look like a uniform field of white. In simple words. Enjoy making a snow-man or throwing snowballs at your girlfriend and take pictures around late afternoon.
4) If you have to shoot snow in the afternoon, setting the white balance accurately becomes important. Most of the time the preset white balance modes cannot handle this situation, resulting in a strong blue cast in all your images. In this case, the best way to achieve a correct white balance is to use the ‘Custom’ or ‘Manual’ white balance mode.
5) Remember to protect your camera from the cold. This would include, not letting the lens fog up, keeping the batteries warm and not letting water freeze on the camera.
6) Avoid shooting in sepia or black-and-white that’s easy! Besides in a b/w setting, you lose out on whatever little color contrast that can be captured.
7) While photographing snow on a cloudy day the cloudy setting generally available on most cameras works well and produces accurate colors. The exposure often needs correction however, and lowering the EV compensation by -0.7 or -1 is a good rule of thumb.
8 ) Too much white snow can make a landscape look bland. You need to look around for something that breaks up the snow like trees, rocks, or anything that puts a bit of contrast into the picture. Try and look for a bit of 'foreground interest' to bring the picture alive, and place some elements too.
9) Use a tripod and a slow shutter speed when it's snowing to cause a "streaking" effect in the image. This can look extremely creative!
10) If you are not an avid photographer all these guidelines above are Greek to you, then simply rely on the Auto settings in your camera. The Auto mode will correct the white balance calculation of the camera and will lower the exposure value to avoid over-exposing the image. Even simpler, some cameras offer a Snow or Winter setting so you can just point and shoot.
Photo by Dazzan.
