Tips on shooting in the Snow...WB

[Canadian Techdiver]

What do you do for White balance while shooting in the snow. I shoot a 30D and I am wondering how to properly capture colors and not blow out the snow or make it look blue like I did last year with my XT.

I have to shoot my brother in law and family tomorrow and we just got like 8" of snow here. and it is supposed to be cold and sunny...so it will be bright out.

any advice would be much appreciated.

[Michael_Lambert]

Shoot RAW make your adjustments in ARC. Meter off your subject and EC-1 to compensate for the bright snow.

I have had a lot of success using a Cpol lens when shooting in the snow but that could just me be :D

A sample.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/Michael_Lambert/winter1low.jpg?t=1227282239

[sevillafox]

I did shots last year with my kiddo and I used raw, AWB (fixed in post if necessary) and I believe I actually went up on the exposure...that is, the camera told me I was over exposing. The camera tries to make the white snow grey so it actually underexposes the image if I'm not mistaken.

This one was +1

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3064/2317949966_2809277f70.jpg?v=0

[Canadian Techdiver]

Thanks for the info guys/girls.... now when you say +1 do you mean you shot it +1 on the meter...or +1 on the EV....sorry still a newbie...just want to be clear


Nice shot Mike.... I have a CPL for my 50mm I will try that as well...didn't have that last spring to try.

[sevillafox]

+1 on the EV if I remember correctly

[Michael_Lambert]

Yup.. -1 on the Ev :D

[sevillafox]

Oh, good lord...we're totally contradicting each other here.

Listen to me....I have more posts. ;)

[Michael_Lambert]

Haha,

Listen to me... her "Brain is not functioning"

[sevillafox]

^^good point

[Canadian Techdiver]

What if I listen to both of you and then I can post here and we will see who I trust from here on out....hmmmm ;):D

[swoCanuk]

I'm with sevillafox on this one, but shoot raw so you can adjust if needed. In the end it's the people that matter, not the snow so much.

[Canadian Techdiver]

oh I only shoot in RAW... I didn't know there was another way..hehehe..

[sunnygirl]

Personally never shot any snow but I do know the theory in this instance, that in a bright white scene the camera meter assumes the scene is light grey so you need to +1. (common in wedding photography with white dress, as is -1 with a lot of black in a scene)
I know it is the opposite of what you would think!