Exposing for snow scenes on film.

Asha

Asha

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Quickie question for when I go to the mountains next week.

How much compensation do I give to end up with "white snow" results ??

Will shoot a mix of landscape and action shots mostly on Tri X for b&w with an odd roll of agfa vista plus colour film.
 
Or you could just put a polariser on it.

As Paul said, it depends how much snow is in the frame.
 
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If its a true snow scene with the majority white I was always told to compensate by about 2 stops
 
Eriktheviking said:
If its a true snow scene with the majority white I was always told to compensate by about 2 stops
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A stop and two thirds is my usual starting point for shooting full snow scenes on digital and it's usually not too far off, anything around that/+2 stops should be around right. If the entire scene is roughly uniform white then it shouldn't matter how bright a day it is, that amount of exposure compensation should get it somewhere near. :)
 
If you have a separate light meter, you could either take an incident reading and use that directly, or take a reading from the palm of your hand and open up one stop.
 
I think that using a polariser and 1 stop gives a good balance and helps with the sky at the same time.
 
I don't personally; but in black and white a yellow filter will help with texture in the snow as the skylight (and hence shadow areas) are bluish.
 
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PMN said:
A stop and two thirds is my usual starting point for shooting full snow scenes on digital and it's usually not too far off, anything around that/+2 stops should be around right. If the entire scene is roughly uniform white then it shouldn't matter how bright a day it is, that amount of exposure compensation should get it somewhere near. :)
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Exactly that.
 
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