07 March 2003

Winter Photography-- Better Pictures in the Snow

Source: Kodak.com

The wintertime world offers a glistening new gallery of great picture subjects. After a fresh snow, the landscape shimmers in a cloak that can isolate and emphasize people, songbirds, red barns, and a host of other festively colored subjects. Your friends and family will enjoy a whole new set of activities. Skiing, skating, sledding, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, ice fishing, ice sailing, and even building a snowman offer many picture opportunities. Wildlife photographers will find that animals are easier to track in the snow, and the lack of leafy camouflage makes them easier to photograph. And the subtle geometry of frozen monochromatic landscapes and moonlit winter fields will offer the landscape photographer challenges of design. Whatever the subject, winter pictures are perfect for cooling off a summer slide show or for personalizing next year's holiday greeting card.

Although picture-taking on a frigid February afternoon is technically no different from photography on a balmy August day, there are some special camera-handling techniques and aesthetic considerations to help you improve your winter pictures. The chief concerns are these: keeping yourself warm, keeping your equipment warm, and learning to see and exploit the special magic that is winter.

STAYING WARM AND SAFE

There's no question about it--you will take better pictures if you are comfortable. If you are warm all over and the wind isn't knifing through gaps in your clothing, you will be more inclined to take that second look for a better camera angle or to spot the best detail in a frozen branch. On the other hand, if your toes and fingers feel like icicles, there's not much chance you'll feel like searching for anything but a warm fire.

The secret of good winter photography is to dress for the occasion. Most of your body heat is lost through your hands, your feet, and especially your head. Warm boots, wool socks, a good hat, thermal underwear, an insulated parka, and good warm mittens will all help you concentrate on making better pictures. Your handgear is particularly important. If you wear thin cotton or wool gloves inside your mittens, you'll be able to remove your mittens and operate your camera controls without chilling your fingers to the bone. Between shots you can pull on your mittens for extra warmth. You can also buy special hunter's gloves with finger openings to facilitate camera handling--or make them yourself by snipping off the finger ends from an old pair of gloves. For extended outings, consider buying a hunter's small hand warmer.

You can protect your camera from falling snow by slipping it under your parka or into a plastic bag between shots. Some photographers enjoy the added warmth of a hunter's vest under their parkas; the extra pockets are convenient for keeping film and other small accessories (like filters and batteries) dry and warm.

Hypothermia is a serious danger, and it can happen even in moderate weather in temperatures between 30° and 50° F (-1° and 10° C). Your body loses heat faster than it can produce it, and you lose control before you know it. The best advice is to stay warm and dry and call it a day before fatigue sets in. Check with your physician or an outdoor store for more information.

If you are going to be in high, remote country, make sure that you know the weather and avalanche conditions before venturing too far from help--and always let someone know where you are headed and when you expect to be back. Don't get overconfident just because you are working in a familiar forest or marsh; many's the intrepid outdoorsman who's fallen into danger a few miles from home.

KEEPING YOUR CAMERA WARM

Although thickened lubricants may cause a cold camera to malfunction, most problems in the cold arise from insufficient battery power. Batteries supply power to the exposure meter, winder motor, flash, and so on. The cold saps power from the batteries, which sometimes causes the camera to malfunction. So keep the batteries warm by keeping the camera warm inside your coat. Incidentally, if you carry your camera under your coat, you may not need a case, which can be an annoyance when you are trying to get a hurried picture.

Keeping the camera warm is especially important with automatic cameras and video cameras that depend heavily on battery power. For example, if the batteries in a video camera are cold, the videotape may not advance at the proper speed. In still cameras, use alkaline batteries whenever possible. In bitter weather, keep a spare set of batteries in an inside pocket and switch when you notice functions are becoming erratic or mechanics are slowing down. Some camera manufacturers sell external battery packs that you can carry inside your parka.

To combat static marks and possible tearing of chilled, brittle film, always advance and rewind your film slowly and with a steady motion. You can minimize condensation on your camera and lens by allowing the camera to warm up slowly when you go indoors. Sealing it in a plastic bag before you enter a building prevents droplets of water from forming on your equipment and film. If snow blows onto your camera, brush it off. Although the snow won't necessarily harm your camera, any warmth (such as you trying to blow it off) will turn the snow to water, which can be harmful. As much as possible, avoid breathing on the lens or viewfinder outdoors to prevent fogging. If a glass surface does fog, wipe it gently with a lens tissue, such as KODAK Lens Cleaning Paper.

If snow is falling and you are plagued by a snow-covered camera, put your camera into a plastic self-sealing sandwich bag with holes for the lens and viewfinder. A skylight filter over the lens on snowy days serves two functions: it protects the delicate lens surface and it removes some of the excess blue light that's prevalent in snow scenes.

In choosing a camera for winter photography, remember that smaller models are easier to hide from the elements and easier to pack along on your outings. The compact 35 mm KODAK STAR Cameras are ideally suited to outdoor picture-taking in the cold. You may even consider a single-use model such as the KODAK MAX Waterproof One-Time-Use Camera that is waterproof to resist the elements. It comes loaded with film and you return the entire camera for processing.

When changing film with a standard camera, be sure to keep your back to the wind. If necessary, use your open parka to prevent snow from blowing into the camera. Shading the camera with your body is also important if you are loading the film on a sunny day.

Features like automatic exposure, autofocus, motorized film advance, and built-in flash make a camera much simpler to operate in cold weather. But don't forget--the more automatic a camera is, the more it depends on batteries for power.

SPECIAL TIPS FOR WINTER PICTURES

Keep these special techniques in mind to help improve your winter pictures.

1. Don't be dismayed by the cloudy, lackluster skies that follow or precede a storm. Overcast conditions add moodiness to scenes and provide a simple, attractive background. Your film will be better able to record the full tonal range of landscapes or other scenes, and you will have recognizable detail from the darkest to the lightest parts of the print or slide.
2. Gray skies can get a little tedious visually though, so consider buying a graduated color filter that will color the sky slightly but leave the foreground natural.
3. Look for high vantage points that reduce the amount of sky in the scene, or tilt the camera down to concentrate on subjects in the foreground.
4. Bright-colored subjects have heightened impact against a blank canvas of snow and they will add interest to your photographs.

EXPOSURE FOR WINTER SCENES

In a sunlit winter snow scene, the tonal range is so extreme that no film can record it completely. If you have a simple, nonadjustable camera, use a color negative film, such as KODAK GOLD 100 or 200 Film. The exposure latitude of these films will help you get good results, even if you are shooting a bright, sunny snowscape.

If you are using a manually adjustable camera with a through-the-lens meter, knowing what part of the scene to meter makes all the difference in getting the right exposure. If you are posing a child on a sled against a sunlit snowy hill, for instance, you can record good detail in the subject's face or in the snow, but not in both. For optimum exposure of the child, take a close-up meter reading of the child's face, and use that reading no matter where you stand. To record detail in a snowy scene, take an overall meter reading and then give one to two f-stops more exposure than the meter indicates. For example, if your meter indicates an exposure of 1/500 second at f/11, use 1/500 second at f/8 or 1/250 second at  f/11.

Remember, an exposure meter wants to make everything in a scene (including snow) a nice, dull medium gray--a disastrous prospect when you want to capture the bright white of fresh snow! One way to avoid the "gray snow blues" is to take your meter readings from a KODAK Gray Card. This card provides a surface of average reflectance for your meter to read. An alternative is to take a reading from the palm of your hand and then open up one stop from this reading.

If you use an automatic-exposure camera, you may have to use some technological trickery to make your camera give proper exposure. Bright snowy backgrounds can cause the camera to overreact to the brightness of the scene, and darker subjects (buildings, people, animals) will be underexposed. Again, move in close to get accurate exposure. A reading from too far away will cause the meter to be overly influenced by the background. Some automatic 35 mm SLR cameras have an exposure compensation control that is designed specifically for giving you correct exposure in conditions like these. Many cameras also have an "exposure-lock" feature so you can move in close to your subject to take a reading and lock the settings, then move back to shoot the picture.

For wider shots, such as landscapes, try setting the film-speed dial at half the actual film speed. This will compensate for the deceptive brightness of the snow. For film with a speed of ISO 200, for example, set the dial at ISO 100--effectively overexposing the film by one stop. Remember that any time you halve the film speed, it's the same as adding an extra stop of exposure. Or if your SLR camera has a compensation control, set it to +1 or +2 to increase exposure by 1 or 2 stops. Reset the control to "0" after taking the picture.

One way to conquer exposure difficulties in snow scenes that include people--with manual or automatic cameras-is to use fill-in flash. By exposing for the background and using flash to illuminate faces or other foreground subjects, you can create a more pleasing balance between the two. Flash fill looks most natural when the filled area is one or two stops darker than the background. (If your camera has a built-in flash, it may provide the right balance of flash-to-sunlight automatically.) See your flash or camera instruction manual for more details on fill-in flash.

DRAMATIC EFFECTS

A snowy background can provide the perfect setting for getting some dramatic results. You can create moody silhouettes of nearby subjects--a skier at the edge of a slope, for instance--by exposing for the sunlit snow. Or with slide film, you can get the romantic, ethereal effect of a seamless dreamlike background when you slightly overexpose a person in the foreground and let the detail in the background disappear altogether. Also, you can slightly overexpose a winter scene on a slide film to produce a soft pastel rendition of the scene-especially early or late in the day. If you underexpose a scene just a bit with slide film, you'll get intense saturated colors, heightening the isolation of colored subjects.

Sunlight offers other interesting possibilities. Though we may rarely notice or appreciate its beauty, the color of daylight changes--especially early and late in the day. When these colors dapple a wintry landscape, the results can be stunning. Early and late in the day, the colors are often quite warm; hillsides and snowy meadows glow in a soothing amber richness. Shadows are softest at these times of day, too. Sunset and sunrise offer an exciting and unpredictable fairyland of colors from pale rose to fiery reds and oranges. Midday is probably the most colorless time of day, so look for subjects that are inherently colorful.

You can also exploit lighting direction for dramatic impact. A snowscape that's backlighted or sidelighted has a three-dimensional appearance, with long, graceful shadows. Fresh powdery snow makes a wonderful subject for backlighted pictures. Your subject may be a skier racing down a slope, or snow decorating a frosty tree. But beware the direct rays of the sun! Use a long lens hood or cup your hand over the top of the lens to prevent lens flare and false meter readings.

Look for detail and design in your scenes. The strength of winter pictures often lies in the hard, geometric lines provided by bare trees and rocks, contrasting with the rippling undulations of drifted snow and white-bearded pine boughs. Search for compositions and designs emphasized by these elements; strive for simplicity and move in close to your subject to fill the viewfinder. Try to arrange your compositions with strong leading lines that lure the viewer's eye to a sudden visual surprise--an unexpected dash of color or an interesting shape.

We have discussed sunlight, but what about moonlight? Your friends might think you're a little quirky tramping off into a cold winter's eve with camera and tripod--but they'll change their minds when they see your results. Some of the world's best-known winter pictures have been made at night or at twilight under the moon. All you need is patience, a fast film and a fast lens (f/2.8 or faster)--a steady tripod and an adventurous spirit won't hurt either.

Snow actually simplifies photography because it acts as a reflector to reduce exposure times and soften shadows. You can include the moon in your shots or not. Snowscapes lighted solely by moonlight require very long exposures--often several minutes or longer. For extra atmosphere, try using tungsten-balanced films to exaggerate the bluish cast of moonlit snow scenes. If you want to include the moon in the frame, shoot at dusk when there is still daylight to illuminate the foreground and allow relatively short exposures. Long exposures will distort the shape of the moon because both moon and earth are moving--you may or may not like the effect. Remember that the moon will be much smaller than you expect unless you use a telephoto lens (135 or 200 mm).

Some moonlit scenes can be more exciting when you include the cheerful lighted windows of a small, cozy chalet or a nearby village. Shoot such scenes with fast films, such as KODAK ELITE Chrome 400 Film or KODAK GOLD MAX 400 Film; try exposures of 4, 8, and 12 seconds at your widest aperture.

You can occasionally improve your winter pictures through the use of filters. With color films, a skylight filter will remove the blue from shadows and add a touch of warmth; for a dreamy, misty effect, try breathing lightly on a skylight (or other lightly colored) filter just before you shoot the picture. A polarizing filter will saturate colors, allow you to control the intensity of reflections on snow and ice, and help clarify detail. Polarizing filters will also give you rich postcard-blue skies. A cross-screen or star filter will add delicate star highlights to any point-light sources, such as colorful Christmas lights or sunlight glinting off icicles. Solid-color filters can create some truly bizarre effects. Red snow? Green?

Black-and-white winter photography requires a whole different bag of filters. With a light- (No. 8) or deep-yellow (No. 15) filter, you can pick up contrast, bring out the detail in snow shapes and clouds, and darken shadows falling on snow. This effect will increase when you replace the yellow filter with an orange one (No. 21). If you go all the way to a red (No. 25) filter, you will end up with dark skies and bright, contrasty scenes. Want to go further still? Try combining a polarizing filter and a No. 25 filter for a day-as-night effect.

Once you get used to the idea of taking pictures outside in cold winter weather, you will find new picture ideas everywhere you look. Just remember to dress warmly, take lots of film, and enjoy yourself. The rewards are worth the effort.