Shooting in the Snow

[Victress2007]

I'm going to Yellowstone later this month and I'm trying to get prepared.  We'll be on a guided tour the entire time so I won't have a lot of flexibility on where to go or what to see.  We do spend an entire day traveling (whatever roads are open) by snowcats, with frequent stops for viewing and photography. We have a night walk (hoping for clear skies because the moon will be almost full). We have a snowshoe walk around Old Faithful area and a regular walk there too.  Right now the weather is predicted to be partly cloudy to snow showers and we're two weeks out - so who can really predict!  I'll have my Sony A6000, A6300, 35mm prime, 12-18 wide, 18-135, a rented 70-300.  Should I bother with my 24-240?  (Not my favorite lens in the first place.)

 

1. Rain sleeve - for if the snow is wet

2. Plastic bags  - for condensation going in and out of warm hotels

3. Reading up on white balance - advice appreciated!

4. Fingerless mittens with very thin liners (along with all the assorted cold weather clothing we need, layers)

 

What am I missing and what else should I study?

 

Thanks,

Vic

[pengu1n]

Lots of spare batteries.  Cold batteries run down faster. Keep your batteries inside your coat.

[Re-tired]

In the event the sun does come out you might like to have a polarizing filter.  Also, read up on exposure compensation when photographing snow.  The camera will attempt to make all of that white snow into 18% grey.  A bit of overexposure and help move the snow back into white, from grey.

[framer]

Use the histogram function and expose to the right for snow. 

 

framer

[Mr. Click]

Those spare batteries, keep them inside your coat so they stay warm.  Cold alone can kill batteries.

[masterdrago]

On 1/3/2019 at 10:52 PM, Re-tired said:

In the event the sun does come out you might like to have a polarizing filter.  Also, read up on exposure compensation when photographing snow.  The camera will attempt to make all of that white snow into 18% grey.  A bit of overexposure and help move the snow back into white, from grey.

I was having the same questions about taking glacier and Denali pix from the air flights. Most of my default settings lean a bit towards overexposure, sometimes 2/3 stop. I will most likely shoot RAW along with fine jpeg. That gives me a lot of latitude and the great ability to do whatever. Some have suggested just shoot bracket. Living in SE Texas doesn't give me any test areas.

[Victress2007]

This is what I learned on my trip.

1. Rainsleeves - I didn't need them.  It snowed lightly frequently.

2. Plastic bags for condensation.  Never used them, either for going in and out of the bus or in and out of the hotel.  Never had any condensation on either camera.  Temps were in the 20s and 30s.

3. White balance - I over exposed by .3, I used a ND filter one day and CP one day, the CP was too dark so I have a lot of post processing to do.

4. Fingerless mittens with liners worked great!  I highly recommend them.

5. Spare batteries, I brought two and never had to use them.  I did run down one battery the first day by turning on the camera when I put it in the camera bag.  My extra batteries were in my luggage in a different vehicle.  I had a cable and battery charger for the phone and that worked great.

6.  The rented 70 - 300 is a great lens!

7. I got a Tenba medium messenger bag and it was great for the A6000 with the 70-300 lens.  It held my wallet and phone and a lens cleaning cloth (which I should have used more). I'm looking forward to using this bag in further travels.  It held both cameras with smaller lenses.

The scenery photo happened when I took a face plant into the snow while snowshoeing. 

 

Vic

 

 

[Re-tired]

Well, despite our well meaning advice it looks like you did a great job.  The face-plant landscape is a wonderful image with a swell story.