| ScanMyPhotos.com Winter Photo Tips |
Shooting in the Snow
Snow scenes are full of bright white color. Your camera will see this and will try to turn all the pure white into grey, leaving the resulting photo looking like a portrait of dirty snow. So, you have to trick your camera in order to take an accurate image of the snowy scene. Lower your ISO to 50 or 100, and open your lens up one or two f-stops more than the auto setting suggests. For example, on a bright and sunny day in the snow, set your camera to 1/1000 of a second shutter speed, f/8 aperture, and ISO at 50 or 100. Use the same settings for an overcast day, though the resulting photo will not be as bright because there is less available light. When shooting snow scenes at night, increase your shutter speed to about 5 seconds, and close down the lens to ISO 200 or 400. Set up a tripod, and use the self timer so you don’t cause a blur when you push the button to take the photo. Adjust the shutter speed to make the photo lighter or darker (increase it for lighter photos; decrease it for darker photos.
After the Shoot
After you return from shooting in the snow, put your camera back in its case and keep it outside for a few minutes, then bring it in. As it warms up, pour yourself a cup of hot chocolate and turn on your computer. Transfer your photos from your camera to your computer, sort through them to find the best ones, and open them up in your favorite photo editing software. Play around with the brightness and contrast levels, and add more red and yellow into the photos if they appear too blue or grey. Save a few different versions, and try a few in black and white. When you are finished editing, upload them to your online account and use on a last minute holiday card or photo book! Or, just print a nice enlargement to frame in your home or office.
[via Lifepics]
