Julian Loc: Sarasota, FL

On the average, most objects reflect only 18% of the light falling on them. The light meter in your camera is usually calibrated to take this in consideration and will adjust the exposure accordingly. White snow or sand, specially under bright light, will reflect better than 90% of the incident light. Under this conditions, the light meter in the camera will assume your object (the snow) is reflecting only 18%; in auto mode, the camera will adjust the exposure to these settings resulting in a considerably under-exposed picture, sometimes between two and three stops under.

In manual mode, as indicated elsewhere in this forum, you have the option to compensate and adjust the exposure accordingly.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Oleg is right. Time to learn how to use the histogram to bracket exposures. This is one of the most powerful features of digital cameras and far more useful than all those fancy exposure metering modes. Probably the best place to learn about how to do that on your camera is by opening the manual and reading away. Should take all of a minute.

Instead of or in addition to histograms, many cameras will warn you of shadows or highlights being off the scale by flashing black or white in the culprit areas. If white, dial down the exposure. If black, dial it up.

You may not see much of a difference in the camera's preview of the shot but you will see it in a good editing program. This approach is universal. Use it for everything, not just snow. As for the polarizer, you are right: sunny days with strong lighting only.

I looked at these two sights and stand by Oleg's and my advice. Thou shalt bracket. Moreover, the color balance is off. Check my advice to you regarding the Expodisc.

website.http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/exposing_snow.shtml[/quote]

More tips on to expose for snow: http://www.pixiq.com/article/how-to-exposure-for-snow[/quote]

Good luck and happy shooting.

dixiemegapixel Loc: Salemburg, NC

Why not try using the SCN Mode (Snow) in your menu? Let your camera's computer do the work for you. If you prefer Manual Mode, shoot a few in SCN, then look at your EXIF data to register the data.

OnTheFly Loc: Tennessee

I'm no expert and someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Don't want to missguide anybody.
I went to Colorado a couple of times and when I got back home and downloaded my images the snow had a blue tint. I later heard about "white balance".
I think you will have to make adjustments here.
Someone with more knowledge than I please chime in.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Very good question. Thanks for asking.

Here is the question: is a pre-set mode generated on the spot specifically for this scene or is a factory pre-set? If the latter, then how do you know if those settings apply to your scene? I wish someone can answer this.

Instead of figuring out what the camera is doing, just use the histogram or those blinking shadows and highlights to adjust the exposure. Even if you shoot in manual, you still look at the picture to determine what is right. Let the camera's computer do this instead. I do not know how you would use the EXIF data here. That is why I go to the histogram.

Good luck.

WNYShooter Loc: WNY

I couple of things that I use:

I usually shoot snow scenes with a polarizer or a ND filter. I normally spot meter on my subject, shoot a test and ajust accordingly--god I love digital! If the scene is stationary, I will bracket three or more exposures.


Although I've never tried it, I have one friend who shoots a lot of winter landscapes and he swears by a graduated ND mounted upside down.

Lastly, I grew up in Rochester and currently live just outside of Buffalo.

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

I posted a friend's picture a while back of the Halloween snow we had on the East Coast. Her picture has snow streaks in it, so you should be mindful of that.

docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

over expose and play.

EricLPT Loc: Jonesborough TN

I have the Fuji IS-1, the infrared version of the S9000. I like it but have unpredictable 'hot spot' appearance issues. A hot spot is an IR only problem so you don't have to worry about it with your visible light camera. It is a fairly complex camera with a bunch of functions and controls, a lot of functions are controlled in the menus, but it is definitely learn-able. Just sit down with the manual each day and go through some of the functions. You'll be master of your camera in no time. The Fuji Super CCD is supposed to be better at dynamic range than a regular sensor, but even it has limits.

That is a very tempting offer to go from inches of snow here in TN to feet of snow in Buffalo, but I think I'll stay here for now.
:D

Eric

billwassmann Loc: Emerson, NJ

Overexpose by one or two stops.

Coops Place Loc: Chicago Area

I tried something with over exposure of snow. Don't know if this would help. Picture was shot in Raw with a 50D. Opened the picture in Photoshop Bridge and saved the picture three times in a tif format. First save was a dark exposure, second picture was as a medium exposure and third picture was as an over exposure. Next, I opened Photomatrix and brought the three pictures in for processing as HDR. The first attached picture is what the snow looked like and the second picture is the results.

Original Raw converted to jpg copy


Photomatrix tif converted to jpg copy

Bobbee

+3 on the EV

gessman Loc: Colorado

The main thing you need to know here is to eat a good breakfast 'cause it's the most important meal of the day.

Nevada Chuck

Take a test shot at two stops over whatever your in-camera meter reading is, providing that you've composed you test shot to include nothing but snow.

From the test shot you should be able to fine tune your final exposure.

Bobbee

hahahahahahahahahahaha