Snow Photography Beginner's Tips

Snow photography beginner's tips - Snow or winter photography is inspiring for any photographer. After a fresh fall of snow, it looks like a winter wonderland with endless white snow everywhere. The leaves, shrubs, and trees have snowflakes and flurries all over. This year we had an early snow day last weekend. Luckily, it has all melted away now. It only snows two or three times a year in this part of North Carolina so we get to experience it, but are not usually stuck with it. So it is truly a wonderful affair.

Photographing in the snow can be tricky, especially when you have to use your expensive camera lens.

Useful Tips

• The first thing that comes to mind is moisture, your lens and camera's biggest enemy. It is best to secure your camera in a zip-lock bag inside your camera bag when you head out and quickly place it back after taking shots. The idea is to avoid condensation of the lens when you are back in the warmth of your home or car. This way the camera will slowly get back to room temperature and not cause any condensation in the lens which can eventually harm it. It is a good idea to keep a lens cloth handy to wipe away any moisture.
• Shoot in RAW so you have the advantage of correcting the photos easily during post-processing compared to  JPEG files RAW files are huge and can store more information. Some aspects that are unable to be corrected or lost in the JPEG mode also can easily be regained if shot in RAW mode.
• Use Manual mode to get actual colors . Semi-automatic modes like shutter priority and aperture mode can be used as well for the falling snow and bokeh shots respectively. The auto mode may often capture dark images as it is all white and bright outside when it snows and the camera might compensate for the brightness by making it grey or dark.
• Overexpose, keep exposure to a higher level to help avoid the grey capture of the snow so that it looks white. This can also be done in post-processing as well.
• It is good to use your imagination and try various compositions, contrasting colors like flowers or bright-colored jackets, scarfs or umbrellas in the snow, footprints, bokeh shots, endless white landscapes, etc.
• Last but not least, wear good protective clothes yourself and enjoy and live the moments as well in the process of capturing! If you have any tips on photographing on a snow day do share them in the comments below, I would love to hear them.

Read more resources on winter photography