Help Capturing Snow Fall

mattd85

mattd85

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Matt
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Hi guys,

It seems snow ha gripped the nation once again, so i thought i would try get some shots of the snow fail in focus but i'm struggling. Any help or input please?

Matt
 
so many variables really.

2 ways are: natural light, up ISO due to natural light, then you'll need to play between shutter speed and aperture to get a sharp image.

the way i would be tempted is, low ISO, shutter speed around 1/20 and then large aperture and then use a flash to freeze the snow.

you may need to increase the exposure value as the snow can trick the camera slightly into thinking its brighter than it actually is.
 
Your camera is probably being presented with a a plain white area and thinks what the heck am I supposed to be looking at. All camera AF systems need some contrast and texture to work with, so if that is the situation use manual focus, or pick some sensible object for the camera to work with. As Harvey said, bright areas will fool the meter as well.
 
I did this one yesterday by leaning out of my window


Snow Chester by djlukew, on Flickr

iso 1/200, f/3.5, iso 800

actually had my nd8 filter on aswell, forgot to take it off. Just pulled the camera out when the snow started
 
What exactly do you want to take colour or mono

JPEGImage23022188.jpg

JPEGImage26287548.jpg


Just remember snow is fast, so use flash if possible and 125th, or say 30th as here for blur
 
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love the mono one. Im looking forward to xmas due to the fact I now have a dslr. hopefully some more snow will arrive
 
I love shooting in snow, although it's a nightmare when it's properly blowing into the lens.

Probably my fave snow shot:


Stalking In The Snow by Pat MacInnes, on Flickr

On the day I tried doing shots of snowflakes falling but it just looked like white fluff floating around. I think in many cases, the easiest route is to put the snow in context (i.e. against a subject) so the snow has a relevance.
 
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Snow in New York by Jordan Butters, on Flickr

I find using a nice wide aperture works well to pick out the flakes.

Here's one below I snapped in NYC this year just after the huge snowstorm hit. It ended up looking like sleet/rain more than snow because it wasn't settling.

The Official NYC Times Square Facebook page ran with this image as their header for a while though, which was pretty cool!

Day #7 by Jordan Butters, on Flickr
 
This is me having walked 4 miles through the snow to take a lens to the Royal Mail depot. (Our usual collection had failed, not surprisingly, and this was the only way to get it to the customer.)

758825349_LNLe6-M.jpg


Camera propped up on a handy bollard, pre-focussed by guesswork, self-timer, 1/20th at f/3.5 with some fill-in flash. It's the fill-in flash that captures the snowflakes.
 
Don't use flash with falling snow!
 
Do use flash with falling snow.

Shoot INTO the sun, do anything you want and try everything that is what photography and art is all about.
 
HoppyUK said:
Don't use flash with falling snow!
Click to expand...

Why not?

If you stick a gel on and mix up the White balance you can get some rather interesting photos...

A friend of mine used a Sainsbury's carried bag to simulate a CTO and balanced it with tungsten WB to good effect earlier this week.
 
DemiLion said:
Why not?

If you stick a gel on and mix up the White balance you can get some rather interesting photos...

A friend of mine used a Sainsbury's carried bag to simulate a CTO and balanced it with tungsten WB to good effect earlier this week.
Click to expand...

Okay, if you want bright coloured blobs all over the place, use flash with a gel.
 
I have found that if you get the flash right it picks out the snowflakes rather nicely.
 
Oggy said:
I have found that if you get the flash right it picks out the snowflakes rather nicely.
Click to expand...

If you're actually in falling snow with flash, a few flakes near the lens can obliterate most of the image with great big white blobs.

Can look nice sometimes I agree, but hard to control. Here's a random example from Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravages/4202159248/
 
My way around that was to take pictures through my back door from the other end of the kitchen. It also depends on the snowflake size.

I also found that by using a longish exposure and minimal flash I could give the flakes little comet trails. Unfortunately I was just playing around and can't find the pictures any more.
 
HoppyUK said:
If you're actually in falling snow with flash, a few flakes near the lens can obliterate most of the image with great big white blobs.

Can look nice sometimes I agree, but hard to control. Here's a random example from Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravages/4202159248/
Click to expand...

Easier to control if you get the flash off the camera and further into the shot, use perspective to your advantage but not allowing the flash to fall on flakes closer to the lens.
 
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