If you’ve ever tried to take pictures after a snowstorm or on a ski trip, you probably noticed that your photos don’t come out quite right. Cameras on auto often underexpose snowy photos, turning your white snow a dull gray. This happens because your camera’s light meter thinks every photo you take should have the perfect balance of light and dark areas, to average out to a middle gray tone. When you shoot snow, there is a lot more white than black in your photo (or light colors than dark colors) so your light meter darkens the entire picture so the final photo will still average out to a medium gray.
Fixing Exposure
Some point-and-shoot cameras have ‘snow’ or ‘winter’ settings that will automatically adjust for these conditions, but even if your camera doesn’t, it’s easy to compensate for them with a couple of settings on your camera.
If you are shooting under a cloudy sky you’ll want to adjust the exposure compensation (EV) on your camera to +0.7 or +1.0 stops.
Under sunny skies you’ll probably need to adjust the EV by up to +2.0 stops. Most digital cameras have an easy way to do this, but if yours doesn’t, you can switch it into manual mode and adjust your shutter speed or aperture. Luckily, with digital cameras, it’s easy to use trial and error to find the correct exposure.
Custom White Balance Settings
Snow can also confuse your camera when it comes to white balance. If you’re shooting snowy scenes under a sunny blue sky, your photos are likely to have a cool blue cast to them. The most reliable way to fix this is to make a custom white balance setting. Most cameras take a meter reading of a scene, and then use that reading when you take subsequent pictures.
When you’re creating a custom white balance setting for shooting snowy scenes, be sure to fill the frame with a clean, well-lit patch of snow.
Avoid shadowy areas because they’ll bring that blue cast back into your shots.
Once you have your custom setting you should be able to shoot all day and get perfectly balanced images.
Custom settings on digital cameras can seem daunting but becoming familiar with them can really take your photography to a new level. Here are a few examples of great winter photography.
bryce by F.S.M., Birds in the wintertime by Stig Nygaard, Matanuska Glacier by jswieringa on Flickr.
