I'm not sure what you've done there, because I haven't been following your story. But snow's a particular case that often needs exposure compensation. An in-camera meter is a reflected light meter & will tend to average what it sees to a mid-tone. So snow can fool it, by being abnormally bright - which results in underexposure. Did you figure that out & deal with it somehow?
A typical scheme, using either a through-the-lens meter or a separate hand-held reflective light one, with a snowy scene, is to take a general reading then open up the aperture by at least a stop & a half, or maybe 2 stops (or the equivalent shutterspeed alteration, on the basis that a 'stop' doubles or halves the exposure). An alternative is to meter off a surface under the same overall lighting that you guess to be a mid-tone - full blue sky, clothing, back of the hand, etc. Set the exposure accordingly, then recompose & take the shot.
(If a camera's exposure settings were fully auto, hopefully it would have an exposure compensation dial, if not a mode dial labelled 'snow'.)
Is that intelligible & relevant?
My story, took up photography about a year ago, using an older DSLR with the stock lens, which has gone slowly but surely for the better.
This was my first time trying to take shots in snow, with film, so no I di not actually figure it out quilt like you have explained,
But what I did do was avoid the harshness of the strong sunlight, and adjusted the camera settings when the light meter went past 1000 of a second.
The camera also has a an overexposure button which reduces light down by 2 stops, and I took a few with that in operation.
I did try and stay in places where the trees did defuse the strong light.
Needless to say I am pretty new to all of this, but I feel like I have learned more in a couple of hours with this camera while outdoors than any other camera at any other time in the last year.
So yes it is very relevant and intelligible, all I have to do is practice and take photographs.
What I did notice was, that I was very slow at deciding what to shoot and I only took 12 images. simply because I am now looking what I would consider properly at composition, not saying that I am good at it at this point.
With the DSLR I can take loads of photographs and might get one or two reasonable shots, but using this camera with film (Nikon FG-20 and a 50mm prime lens)
Just have to complete the rest of that roll and send it away, Kodak Gold 200, then I will try B&W after that.
Thank you so much for your reply, it has really helped me out today.
