Settings for falling snow

Alright I'm looking for help with getting a photo of wildlife while it's snowing. I've tried a couple of times and my results aren't that great. What shutter speeds are appropriate for freezing and also showing some streaking for snow? And at what apertures are you going to even be able to tell it's snowing. I'm shooting with a 500mm hand held.

Thanks,

Travis

I find the heavy large crystal snow is the best. I dont think you want slow shutter speeds. A shallow dof may help.

I dont have the settings for this one. 18-135mm t3i i think

2048 x 1365

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Thanks and yes this is the effect I'm looking for.

If you are taking nature shots you may be able to do multiple exposures to get more snow in the shot.

The settings are going to depend on the light you have. There is no way to answer that question for you. Just try to keep your shutter speeds high and your aperture wide. Experiment. Shoot, chimp, adjust and shoot again until you get what you want.

To me snow is best shown when it has a track and not shown as spot. If your wildlife is a subject not in move, you should consider at least a few with shower set up and decide for yourself which is the best.

Pick either your shutter speed or aperture, then dial in the other until your meter reading is around +1 2/3 to +2 1/3 depending on how bright and direct the light is; that ought to get you wee
ll within the ballpark.

You also have to decide what style of snow you really want. Personally I'm not a huge fan of blurred snow like in facedodge's photo, as that almost looks like cheap soap movie 'snow' because hardly any of the flakes are in focus. One or two near the couple are kinda-sorta-almost in focus, but still.

Samsen's example produces an effect that loses much of the qualities of snow that I think are wonderful in photos; its lightness and airy effect. That could be rain with very large drops.

Very hard topic, hopefully something I will get to play with this winter.

ss at 320 at f4.

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Thanks everyone. I'll try out some of the suggestions from this thread next time I get a chance. I'm really liking the snow in your second picture mondayshift