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Free Article : Digital Cameras and Photography in the Snow

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Digital Cameras and Snow Photography

We only have to look at the sparkling, sunlit, snowy vistas to instantly reach for the camera in the hopes of recording the moment forever. What a disappointment when, home again, we look at the dismal results and wonder what was wrong with the camera. Nothing, usually. Snow might be one of the loveliest of images to capture but it's also one of the trickiest. Imagine the scenario ........ the high mountain peaks in the distance; the snow covered slopes dotted with skiers; ski-lifts climbing upwards into the blue skies; and fluffy clouds caught on thrusting mountain crags. Or it might be the sun setting in a rosy glow, behind those same mountain peaks, as the weary skiers wend their way back to the chalets with skis slung over their shoulders and the anticipation of the social get-togethers of the evening with log fires, good food and drink. Let's not forget the days of blizzard when the visibility is down to yards and snow covers familiar objects but then, as the snow storm abates, offer opportunities for even more interesting pictures. To capture these unforgettable and often unrepeatable images we need to understand the camera's potenital and limitations.

Complicating things is the fact that modern cameras offer what are, apparently, vastly different specifications and pre-set options. Digital cameras are referred to in a number of of different ways; they might be digicams, mountain-cams, webcams or skicams. The terms become bewildering! Basic differences are that some cameras are point-and-shoot (roughly equivalent to what we once knew as 'compacts' in roll film days, although the results are vastly superior) and the SLR with which the photographer has an array of different, interchangeable lenses, to suit every situation. For the photographer who wants to travel light, have a camera handy at all times but not be laden down with a heavy camera bag full of kit, then the point-and-shoot option is for them. For the person for whom the whole point of the trip is to get photographs, then the SLR and bag full of kit is the more usual option. Whilst the point-and-shoot cameras often offer a number of exposure options there is no escaping the fact that the SLR, in the hands of someone who knows how to use it properly, will deliver the best results.

It's not many years since the first 1megapixel camera was hailed as a major breakthough in digital photography and cost an 'arm and a leg' to buy. Now, with the explosion in digital image capture technology, it's possible to get higher specified cameras, than that first one, as a cheap keyring! The number of megapixels that a camera uses are often seen as the most important criterion when choosing a camera. The number of pixels indicates the amount of data that is stored for each image capture. This becomes very important when the resultant file is processed. It is of paramount importance if the picture is to be printed at a larger than postcard size. If the images are to be projected, saved for viewing on a computer monitor or printed at up to A5 size a smaller number of pixels, eg 3 or 4 megapixels is more than acceptable. This subject is worthy of an article in its own right so, if large prints are going to be what you want, do investigate the requirements before choosing the camera. Lens quality, size and quality options for image-capture (tiff, jpeg or RAW), fixed or zoom lens sizes, situation pre-sets (eg mountains or portrait), reputation of the camera manufacturer etc., are all factors that should be considered carefully before selecting the camera. It's rare to get the 'right' camera first time but you do, at least, want to buy one that isn't a disappointment right from the start.

There are 2 main factors that, unless understood and taken into account, are guaranteed to ruin your winter wonderland pictures ie., exposure and colour balance. Snow scenes play havoc with both of these when the automatic functions are employed. When the camera determines exposure time linked with aperture it takes readings, from one or more areas of the framed image in the viewfinder, and averages them out. If a vast proportion of your image is white then the camera won't understand that you want it to stay white, not 50% grey, and will underexpose the picture giving you a dull, muddy looking image on your screen or print. Colour balance is often an unknown quantity to the photographer and usually left to the camera to 'sort out'. On most occasions this is a reliable decision but not in snow. The default colour balance will deliver deep blue tones in your images that are not particularly pleasant.

Let's consider these factors in a bit more detail. Exposure is always a trade off between aperture, film speed (ISO) and shutter speed which, together, determine the amount and speed of light reaching the camera's sensor in capturing the image. If you want to have some control over the resultant image your camera must have a function allowing the photographer to over-ride the automatic settings. The ISO setting seen as being the one to deliver good results at a reasonable speed is 100 and many cameras will offer this as the default. The higher speeds allows the camera to capture the image more speedily (so avoiding camera shake and blur) but it is at the expense of image quality as 'noise' makes an appearance and edges (of people, buildings etc.) can develop unpleasant coloured haloes. In roll film the effect, after development, was to increase the amount of grain. Shutter speed is the factor which often determines how sharp or blurred the image turns out to be if the camera is hand-held. This is a largely personal issue as some photographers are steady at relatively low speeds eg 1/60th of a second whereas other may need a speed of around 1/250th of a second to ensure a sharp image. The longer lenses eg 200mm or more increase the risk of blur and a faster shutter speed is needed. Decreasing the aperture size will allow the shutter speed to increase but the down side is that the bigger the aperture (conversely the smaller the actual number, eg f11 is a smaller apperture than f4), the smaller the depth of field. This isn't particularly important if your subject is fairly distant but if the main point of interest is very close it might become an issue. Of course monopods and tripods come into their own here but not everyone wants to carry these around all the time. The 'programme' feature, or equivalent, on most cameras including SLRs, allows the photographer to leave everything to the camera to find a 'best fit' balancing all the options, to get the best possible image under the circumstances. However, in snow, or otherwise exceptional conditions, the camera doesn't always know best.

When taking a snowscape, that has lots of bright sky, snow and possibly distant mountains, use you camera to meter the exposure and set the focus on the point of interest then, if time allows, take a frame at this setting then using manual over-rides (exposure compensation), take a couple more increasing the exposure each time. Hopefully, one of these will give you the result you wanted. Make sure you retain detail in the snow as nothing is more unattractive than solid white unrelieved by any little details or shadows! If your scene contains lots of snow but the interest lies in skiers or a mountain peak, focus and meter on these, check the different levels of exposure offered for the different elements and then decide which is the more important but, again, take more than one exposure to ensure a good one. Experience and practise will help you to make the right decisions. To get detail in both snow and a darker subject eg a person, is very difficult and im most instances you will have to decide which is more important; beautifully exposed snow with a silhouetted figure or a figure with details and over-exposed snow. Our eyes and brain still capture and process visual information much more efficiently than even the most sophisticated camera can!

Colour balance is the other problem in snowy settings. Again, the default settings are assuming conditions that are average. The light falling on, and being reflected by, bright snow, usually with a beautiful clear blue sky above, are anything but average. Look at the colour balance option settings on your camera and set these to take account the prevailing light on the day. These will include settings for cloud, bright sun, artificial light (to eliminate that yellow cast), night-time etc.

Don't forget extreme cold can affect the life of your camera battery or even the efficiency of your camera. Spare batteries should be kept close to your body to benefit from your own warmth. Protect your camera from damp if using it in falling snow. It might be tempting to get the perfect blizzard shot but it could be an expensive exercise if you end up damaging your camera.

There are no hard and fast rules .......... the unique conditions of any given scene will determine a different balance of settings. Experience and care in choosing the right settings on the camera will go a long way to helping you get it right. A bonus point is that, with digital cameras, we don't have the expense of every exposure costing money as it did when roll film was the order of the day. Today, we can take as many exposures of the same scene, varying and experimenting with settings, and then 'bin' the ones that don't come up to scratch. The opportunities for creativity and experimentation are endless. If you're still at the learning stages, make a note of camera settings and conditions for each picture then, those that produce the best results can be replicated and used as starting points for future occasions.

Above all, enjoy the experience!

Article Ref : http://www.stijlnet.com/pages/contentwriting/articles/free/2009/0005-digital-snow-photography.html (First published at http://www.snowcams.tv/ - 2008)

Author(s) : stijlnet.com

Title : Digital Cameras and Snow Photography

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