Snow Photography - Need some help! Canon S400

[andyz311]

Hey! I have a Canon S400 (4 mp digtal "elph") and I was wondering how I could take some good pics of the falling snow with possibly a subject in the background (building, etc.) I've tried - without success (i.e. snow looks like transparent dots, the picture is too dark, etc.). Help!

[stopbath]

Snow is a tough subject. Your meter wants the snow to be mid grey, but you want it to be white (but not pure white, you want some detail in it.)

Also, you want the falling snow to be visable, not just a blur.

I woud suggest metering the brightest snow you want in the image, and add one and a half to two stops compensation to it. (If your camera can do that.)

Next, to capture the snow falling, you'll need to focus on it! Use a fairly quick shutter speed, and a fairly good depth of field so that snow in front of the subject is in focus too, but not so much that ALL the snow is. Some snow in front of the camera should be just blur.

Do NOT use flash! This will illuminate the blurry snow in front of the lens!

Take several shots (altering exposure compensation, and then depth of field) and pick the best.

[andyz311]

So in other words, I need a tripod. Doh! So, when you say to meter - is that when I should set my white balance to custom and then shoot it at the bright white snow on the ground? I'm kinda new to all of that. I know how to change stops though, so cool.

[stopbath]

Use of tripod or other support depends on the requirements of the shot. Given the very nature of how a cold human tries to warm up, a tripod might be a bonus, but not required for bright days or lightly overcast days.

Depending on the cloud cover, you may need a tripod, or you might not. Safest bet is to have one handy...

By metering I mean the exposure meter. The exposure meter will attempt to evaluate each scene as if it were medium grey. Since this applies to most 'average' shots, it's a great starting point. But unless your subject is grey, you may need to 'correct' the meter (evaluative metering may automatically assist in some situations where it can 'recognize' the scene...)

Trouble is that snow is white. If your shot contains more than a small sample of snow, it may toss the reading off. (very dark and very pale scenes will both meter to middle grey) You need to compensate by evaluating the scene content of snow. The easiest way I can think of is to meter (spot meter) the brightest snow you want to retain detail in, and add two stops to it. Three stops over will render the snow more white, but you'll have only a hint of texture. Four stops over and you'll be getting pure white snow. One stop over, and the snow is kinda grey, this can later be corrected, so don't think you can't use a small 1 stop increment. No compensation, and you'll have grey snow.

Auto white balance should be fine on overcast setting. Use custom if you want though.

Good luck.