I’m soon heading off to Antarctica and been thinking about how I need to change the ways in which I capture my images, camera gear, camera accessories to pack, and even how I look differently at what to capture. If you’re heading to somewhere packed full of snow soon here’s my tips:
Keep your equipment safe – The cold temperatures of winter can be harsh on your equipment. Since snow can easily wet your gear, consider buying a waterproof bag to keep everything safe and dry.
You can never have enough batteries – Cold temperatures significantly chew through your camera’s batteries faster when you’re outside for long periods of time. Bring at least two spare batteries and recommend that you store them close to your body in an insulated pocket to keep them warm.
Bring the Right Gloves – The right gloves is also very important. If your gloves are too thick you won’t be able to press any buttons or turn any dials on your camera. If your gloves are too thin your hands will get cold, likely reducing your ability to capture great images. Fingerless gloves are a great compromise and I use a combination of thin liners and flip top mittens.
Lens Filters and Hoods – Having a lens filter and lens hood are absolute musts if there’s even a slight chance of rain, snow, or moisture in the atmosphere as not only can they help with controlling the light, but they can keep your lens clean and dry.
Use a small aperture – To make sure everything in your photo is sharp, stick to a small aperture (somewhere between f/8 to about f/22). Since these values have a large depth of field, everything from the foreground to the background will be in focus.
Look for colour and contrast – Sometimes, snow turns everything so white that it’s hard to distinguish the different elements in the landscape. If you don’t want to end up with featureless images, train yourself to start looking for contrast.
Keep Your Lens Cap On – In addition to your hood and filter you should keep your lens cap on whenever you’re not actively shooting to prevent moisture from settling on your lens and always take a look at your lens before taking photos, saves removing spots during editing.
Lens cleaning cloth – It’s very common for condensation to build up on your lens, between your filter and lens, or on your viewfinder and screen from your body heat. Make sure you have a good cleaning kit with multiple microfibre lens cloths.
Pack a rain cover – While all newer cameras are weather sealed, taking a rain cover is a little added protection should the weather close in.
Correct Exposure in the Snow – Snow creates a massive amount of bright light making it very easy for your camera to either under or overexpose your images. Use a polarised filter to reduce glare from reflective surfaces. When you try to capture snow in Auto Mode, it often looks greyish, rather than pure white. So, how do you make sure the snow looks white in your images? The simple answer is to use exposure compensation (the button with a +/- sign in most cameras). This increases or decreases the actual exposure value of your image by 1 to 2 units.
Use your Histogram – It’s never a bad idea to look at your histogram to review images as you don’t want to get back to process your images and find they are overexposed. Use your histogram to your advantage and it’s better to slightly underexpose your images instead.
Look for Unusual Subjects – Photographing in the snow creates new environments and new subjects that you wouldn’t normally see – keep your eyes open for something different – freezing of water, capturing icicles, a frozen lake, or snowcapped mountains will all make amazing subjects.