dyximan

Photographing in snow and snowy cloudy conditions/ My questions are as follows. And Are related to shooting under both sunny and or cloudy conditions. When shooting do you use a gray card? How do you or what is the best white balance for each condition? What metering method is the best spot, matrix averaging, etc? Also ISO, aperture and shutter speed’s For each Condition. And any other considerations I need to account for. I want to thank you in advance for your answers and help in this matter.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I pretty much meter the same regardless. Spot meter on the brightest part of the scene. Then, increase exposure to place that part of the scene in an appropriate Zone. The amount of increase is camera (not model) dependent and needs to be determined by testing. Since I shoot RAW white balance is not really part of the equation. Additionally, I use a very different white balance when making the initial captures. I set white balance during processing. As for ISO, it varies between 100 and 400, depending on tripod or hand held.
--Bob

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

I don't worry about WB as I shoot RAW. I always try to keep the ISO as low as possible. Aperture as needed for the effect and shutter as needed for the effect. I also use matrix metering.

billnourse Loc: Bloomfield, NM

You can use a grey card to set exposure prior to taking the shot. Make sure the card is at the same angle as the scene you will be shooting so the reflected light is the same. You will find that you need to expose at least 1 1/2 or 2 stops over on bright days. The key is to get the snow white without losing detail. Your camera is going to want to expose the scene as 18% grey which will result is grey snow. If you don't have a grey card you can always check your histogram or just look at the screen to see what you need to do. You can also bracket shots to insure that you get a workable exposure.

As far as aperture, ISO and shutter speed, it will be like any other exposure. Use the settings you need for a correct exposure and the desired effect you want to see, ie. depth of field, stop action, etc.

Bill

ORpilot Loc: Prineville, Or

Check your camera WB or shooting modes. I have two cameras that has "snow" scene WB and exposure. Otherwise I use "shade" to help keep shadows from becoming too blue. Plus be mindful of exposure compensation. It is very easy to burn out the whites.

pappleg

If one follows Bryan Peterson we find that average caucasian skin approximates 18% grey so simply meter your open hand. That said do it at the same reflectance angle as your scene as previously noted. It is also only a starting point, especially in a bright snow or beach scene. Chimp your LCD screen to confirm and I would highly recommend a Hoodman hood for your screen to see what you have un any brightness condition. Many times auto ISO works well but check it and as tradio noted keep it relatively low. Snow is especially notorious for pick up light color and overcast conditions generally favor cool blues. While it is true that shooting RAW will allow great latitude in adjusting WB why not get as close as you can in camera. Good luck or better, experiment.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Meter on the snow and open up about 1.5 stop. The meter will try to turn the snow gray, you want it to look white so you have to overexpose it a bit.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

This made me curious. I haven't read the Peterson book, but AA generally recommended placing Caucasian skin on Zone VI, which would be quite a bit above 18% reflectance, as I recall.

So I went to the Googles to see if there were any research. Of COURSE there is...

Anyone more scientific than I want to translate into photographic terms?

https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1616&amp=&context=cis_reports&amp=&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A%252F%252F%3Ca%20href=

Andy

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

If the part of your title that's written as "snow we" is supposed to be snowy, or snowing, then shutter speed is determined by whether you want to stop action, or let the falling snow be blurry. As mentioned above about the overall experience, try several different ways to see what you like.

Re blue color, when sun is shining, the shadows appear to my eye as blue - and that is how I prefer to represent them in photos.

(Download)

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Great find, Andy.
--Bob

pappleg

Wow, is that over the top! I would not know how to begin there but I do trust in Peterson's photo experience relative to exposure. When I had a darkroom I worked mostly in black & white and studied Ansel, Weston and Fred Picker in using the Zone System and others delved into things like gamma which is the base density of b&w unexposed film processed normally. Theoretically that is the starting point of densitometry and some photographers tried to apply that in analyzing negatives and true "zone" values. It got real crazy and I am not sure how practical it would be in actual photo applications. Interesting though, thanks for the research Andy.

Pat

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Actually, it works very well. One just has to apply it to digital instead of film. All of my work over the last 2-3 years has been Zone System applied to digital. It does require serious testing to know how your individual camera handles additional exposure and the exposures need to be done in RAW.
--Bob

pappleg

Hi Bob, I have enjoyed your digital b&w work. I have not followed b&w into the digital realm but back in the day (film) it was generally accepted that the tonal range of b&w exceeded that of color negatives and slide film had an even lesser range. As I recall there were 9-10 distinct zones in b&w, 7-8 for color negatives and 5-6 for slides and, of course, it was a continuum so there were 1/2 zones, etc. Has digital altered that in any way in your experience?

Thx Pat

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

While I recognize Bryan Peterson's experience and expertise, I'll have to say that he is the first "knowledgeable" person that I have ever heard say that Caucasian skin approximates 18% gray (American spelling). And I do not recall more than one or two instances getting a satisfactory result by metering directly on Caucasian skin. Rather, the guideline that I have always heard quoted (at least for the past 40 years or so) is that Hispanic and Native American skin, on average, approximates standard exposure, or 18% gray. Additionally, Caucasian skin is the most variable from person to person of any ethnic group, and therefore is the least acceptable to use as a standard for any purpose. In fact, when I was using the Zone System, my experience was that it could be anywhere from Zone 6 to Zone 7.

It doesn't snow a lot here in North Texas, and when it does, the safest choice for all concerned is to stay indoors and out of our cars. So I haven't done a lot of digital snow photography. But when I did, my usual strategy was to place the snow somewhere around Zone 8 when using 35mm film and maybe a half stop or so higher when using medium format. Bracketing for a little bit of underexposure was always a good strategy, just in case.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Pat, you're correct in the Zone concept. With digital white is the important Zone for which to meter. The darker tones are handled in processing. Now, if we consider that the digital tonality is 256 steps, it's difficult to divide and get 9 or 10 discrete zones. Zone 0 is values of 0 to 25.6, Zone I is 25.6 to 53.2, etc. We don't have discrete values on which to rely and say this value is Zone i. The all important thing is to know how many stops additional exposure one can set but not blow out highlights. Specular reflections can get to Zone X or 256.

So, when I'm shooting digital, I'm placing the highlights, not the shadows, in the Zone I feel appropriate for the scene. Then in processing I handle the lower portion of the Zonal placement. It's almost 180 degrees different than when I'm shooting film. However, when I'm shooting film, I rarely place shadow, even the darkest shadows in Zone 0 or Zone I. I generally place them in Zone IV. Obviously, this does require one to test their camera to see how much additional exposure can be utilized. This varies from camera to camera, not model to model. As such, the first few days of my using a new camera will spent photographing a color chart, with various lenses, to see just where the camera's limits are.

I hope this answers your question. If not, let me know.
--Bob