Winter has hit hard in a lot of places over the holiday weekend, and that means lots of snow! I love photographing in the snow, winter landscapes are magical. And sometimes I find myself photographing in a snowstorm, another fantastic time to be out taking pictures. On a trip to Japan in the winter the image I wanted the most were Red-crowned cranes in falling snow…the mood and feel of falling snow bring the image to the next level. Lucky for us we had a beautiful snowstorm during our visit (image above). “Bad weather is good weather.” I actually plan trips around snowstorms…falling snow offers a chance to photograph scenes in unique conditions.
There are a few considerations for photographing in the snow. Here is a list of things to watch out for…don’t put your camera away, head out the door and create some unique images!
-autofocus. probably the biggest problem folks have shooting in the snow is their autofocus won’t work. Falling flakes of snow confuse the autofocus, and it will rack out and back trying to find your subject. If possible get closer to your subject or zoom in tighter. If this doesn’t help, I just use manual focus override. I focus manually a lot for winter landscapes in the snow. Static wildlife can also work in manual mode. It gets harder for subject tracking in the snow…getting closer will help.
-use your lens hood. Your lens hood will keep the snow from smearing on your front element, and also protect the lens if you fall into a snowbank (done that a few times). Just be aware if you come out of a warm car or room, a large lens hood will hold onto warm air and create shimmer (blurry images). Take the hood off to allow cold air to blow through.
-shooting from a blind or car. A great way to photograph in the snow and protect your gear is shooting from a car or blind. If you shoot from a car make sure that the car temperature is cool, otherwise you will get heat shimmer created by warm air flowing out the windows. I just drive around with my car cold to avoid this, even in arctic weather. Another great trick is setting up a tent and photograph from this. We set up simple portable bird blind tents in our backyard during the winter to photograph backyard birds. We can sit for hours in the tents during snowstorms photographing birds coming to our feeders.
-Use a rain cover. If it is really cold and snow is dry, you might not need a rain cover immediately. But if I am going to be photographing in the snow all day I will put on a rain cover to protect my lens. I small brush is handy to brush off snow on your gear during a snowstorm.
-Don’t rewarm too quickly. When you are done with your winter shooting make sure to put your camera gear in a pack or bag to prevent condensation build up when you return to a warm building. Pop out your flash card and battery so you can get access to those items while your camera/lens slowly warms up.
-shutter speed for snow. Decide how you want to render falling snow…check out this blog post.
-telephotos in blizzards. I normally use a 600mm for wildlife, but shooting in a blizzard at distant subjects is tough. First, your focus probably won’t work. And next, your images might look blurry because you are shooting through so much snow with a strong telephoto. Don’t expect pin sharp images of moose in a snowstorm if they are distant or the snow is falling hard. On the other hand, don’t put you camera away…the falling snow might start to slow down, or your subject might get closer which will help with image acuity.
We have had a few spots open on our Alaska arctics lights workshop in February. This is the perfect winter photography trip…aurora, dog sledding, ice carving and arctic landscapes and wildlife…please come join us!