THE THINGS I DO…

Living in the part of Virginia that seldom, if ever, sees any significant snowfall, I have been asked by several of my regular photo walkers to give some of my tips for shooting in the snow. What follows are some tips for making better snow pictures and dealing with the effects of cold weather on your gear.

If your photo has more than 3/4 of the image taken up by snow, OVERexpose your image by 1 to 2 f/stops. Use the exposure compensation button if you are shooting in the auto or semi-automatic exposure modes or simply open the lens to let more light in if shooting manual. Even with the modern exposure algorithms, most snow shots made following the camera’s meter will result in gray snow. The compensation I suggest will at least get you in the ball park. Thankfully, digital photography has allowed us to see our images immediately after exposure…allowing any changes to be made on the spot. Keep in mind here that you only need to compensate if you have a lot of snow in your photos. If you’re shooting a tight portrait out in the snow, you probably don’t need to compensate for the snow (the meter isn’t seeing it).

Try not to change lenses if the snow is flurrying around you. For some reason, changing lenses when snow is in the air can attract stray flakes onto your camera’s imaging sensor. Shooting in the cold is difficult enough and the last thing you want is a stray flake coming to rest on your sensor! So, if you do have to change a lens, bend over the camera and use your body to shield it as you make the change.

Keep your batteries warm! Cold batteries are less efficient than warm ones and will not last as long as a set that has been warming in a pocket close to the body. Don’t shoot with cold batteries, they’ll drain faster. Warm them first before inserting in your camera. Carry an extra battery pack and keep it warm in a pocket.

Another exposure tip for those using point-and-shoot cameras: if your camera has an auto setting for beach or snow, use it! That setting will do the exposure compensation I mentioned earlier for you. By the way, sand will give your camera the same exposure challenges as snow…both are bright lighting conditions that need similar exposure adjustments.

When finished with your shooting (and this is more important the longer you’ve been outside in the cold), but your cold camera and lenses into a large plastic ziploc bag BEFORE coming in where it’s warm. This will prevent moisture from collecting on the outside of your camera and potentially shorting out the camera’s electronic innards. The plastic bag will get cold and cause condensation on the outside of the bag instead. When the bag is warm, you can remove your camera.

Speaking as one who has fallen in the snow, don’t take more gear than you really need. A camera body and a couple lenses are easier to protect if you slip on an icy patch.

Take plenty of memory cards with you to keep from running out of storage space when things get interesting.

Rely on your histogram view to guide your exposure (if your camera allows you to view it). Remember, your histogram will tend to have less info in the middle and more on the left side and right since your snow shots will contain a lot of highlights (the snow!) and shadows. Look at a histogram of a well-exposed snow scene and us it as a guide for other similar scenes.

So, keep warm and try my tips the next time you have a chance to go play in the snow!

I wrote this for the holiday edition of MyTime magazine. I thought I’d share my top ten list of photo tips for holiday shooting.

1. Turn off the red-eye reduction feature on your camera. Most image editing programs allow you to correct for red-eye, eliminating the need to use this irritating, battery draining, feature.
2. Get close to your subject. Fill the frame with the important, crop out everything else. Shoot like a pro!
3. Hold the camera steady. Most holiday happenings are indoors. Indoor lighting requires slower shutter speeds, increasing the chance of movement and blurred images.
4. Shoot a lot of photos. Your chances of getting a good shot will increase with the number of photos you make.
5. Make sure you have plenty of batteries and memory cards. Nothing’s worse than running out of juice or memory just when things are getting interesting.
6. Keep your camera close at hand. You never know when an interesting photo opportunity will happen — be ready for it.
7. Look for the candid moments instead of trying to pose everything. Don’t orchestrate your photos, go with the flow and shoot what happens in front of your lens.
8. Check your lens for fingerprints. With point-and-shoot cameras, you can’t see what the lens is seeing so you’ll need to check from occasionally to make sure your lens is smudge-free. A clean, microfiber cloth is the ticket for taking care of this chore.
9. When shooting children, work from their level. It’s amazing how this will improve your photos of the kiddies.
10. Share your moments with others. I especially recommend uploading your photos to a computer for use them as a holiday slide show for friends to view when visiting. Digital picture frames work well also.

I hope this list will help make your holiday photography successful.

Enjoy the season,

Dennis

Sometimes, shooting from a different angle will open your eyes to a new composition you had never thought of before. During a recent vacation to the Asheville, NC area, I was chasing some spectacular cloud formations across the sky, trying to find an interesting foreground to use to frame my shot. While clouds can sometimes make great photos by themselves, I was looking for something to remember my vacation by and was in search of something interesting to put in the foreground. We found this little historical park at the site of the old Zeb Vance homestead and seeing this combination of old log homes and rustic fences caused me to swerve into their parking lot.

I was using my circular polarizer to give me a spectacular blue backdrop for the clouds (and to add more saturation to the greens), but I still wasn’t happy with the shot…that is, until I bent down to get a different lens from my bag. Looking up from that low angle, I saw this mirrored composition of the spit-rail fencing against the mountains in the distance and immediately had an “aha!” moment. I swapped lenses (I used a 24-70mm zoom for this) and got down to ground level. I mean all the way down! Lying on my side, I fired off 10 or 15 shots. In a few minutes, the clouds moved on and so did I…happy that I took the “low road” to get this photograph.

I posted a very successful item last year about how I shoot fireworks photos. That link is here. Before you run off to read that, I’d like to add a few more tips to try this year in your pursuit of the perfect fireworks photo.

• Do your homework. Scout out the location and get into position while it’s still light outside. Parking is always a nightmare. Go early. Take a book and some refreshments.
• Bring a flashlight. It will come in handy to find your stuff when you drop it during the frenzy of shooting. Believe me, after searching the ground on your hand and knees for ten minutes looking for your @#$%^ car keys in the middle of a pitch-dark field, you’ll remember to bring a flashlight next time! Also, tape a red gel filter to the front of it so you won’t ruin your “night vision” whenever you turn the flashlight on.
• Set the focus to “manual” and crank it out to the “infinity” setting (that’s the one you use to shoot mountains and other far away stuff).

That should freshen up my earlier post with some new bits for you to read and heed. Remember, if the fireworks are aimed at you, you’re probably in the wrong location! Be safe.

(Fireworks photo courtesy Scott Robinson)

Planning to be out and about for a day of shooting? Unless you’re doing this in the Sahara, plan for rain. Nothing ruins a day quicker than a sudden downpour. Rain and digital cameras don’t mix. Where film cameras could shrug off a shower with little, if any, negative consequences, the electronics in today’s digital cameras will short out when exposed to moisture. 

So, to preserve your investment, keep your camera DRY!

There are a lot of protective rain covers on the market that cost hundreds of dollars. My solution is a bit cheaper. I use a plastic trash bag! 

Don’t get me wrong, those expensive camera rain coats are worth the money when you have to shoot an event in bad weather. What I’m talking about here is bringing along a kitchen trash bag to throw over your gear if you’re caught outdoors and exposed to the elements. 

It’s cheap insurance that takes up little space in your bag and weighs, well, nothing. I squeeze my “emergency” cover in a pocket on the inside of my backpack. The trash bag is so inconspicuous that I forget I’m carrying it… unless it starts to rain!