Winter and snow photography. Winter photography, especially when snow is involved, comes with some pretty tough challenges. All that white snow with the beautiful blue sky makes a camera go mad trying to figure out the correct exposure. If you’re the type of photographer who prefers to shoot in auto or program mode most of the time, you’ll find it difficult to nail the exposure. This is a good time to switch over to manual mode. Photographer Brendan van Son has some winter snow tips: 1. Exposure. The most difficult thing when shooting in the snow is nailing the exposure. If the opening paragraph had you thinking “what exposure should I use then?” here’s the answer: always shoot at least one stop overexposed. Move the exposure compensation dial to +1 or switch to manual and tweak the exposure so that that the meter indicates that you are one stop over exposed. Why? With all that white snow, your camera will be fooled into thinking that the scene is too bright and then will under-expose to make it middle grey – which will make the scene too dark. Over-exposing one stop compensates for this. 2. Shoot with the sun behind you. Use the sun like a flash. This is one time when it’s okay to shoot with the sun behind you. If you’re shooting into the sun, when it is closer to the horizon, you’ll have problems nailing the exposure. 3. Go wide. Use a wider lens and get close to the action. Wide angle lenses tend to make things larger than life, which is what you want if you’re shooting snowboarders and skiiers. Brendan Van Son suggests using the 16mm to 30mm end of your zoom lens for best results. 4. Crop tight and zoom. When composing, try zooming in and cropping tight. Fill out the space with the subject but leave some space in the direction that the skater or snowboarder is moving. This creates a sense of movement which is what most sport and action photographers look to achieve in their images. Close up shots tend to be more dramatic. For cropping, a slightly longer lens, such as a 70–200mm is a better bet. 5. Pack extra batteries. Cold weather drains power from camera batteries much faster than mild weather. Always ensure that the batteries are fully charged and pack extra batteries if you plan to shoot for extended periods of time. Keep your batteries in an internal pocket next to your body so they stay warm.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 23:38:43 +0000