Photography in snow

[downhillbiker]

Hey,

I'm heading out to work a winter season this year, and having been a keen biking photographer all summer, I thought I'd turn my hand to getting some shots on the slopes.

Now, I've not used my current camera (Nikon D70) in snow before, only my smaller digicam (Nikon Coolpix 885) and the results were less than brilliant.

Are there any definitive tips on taking photos (largely of riders in the snowparks etc.) in the snow; useful filters / techniques that will help improve the definition of the photo, which is what I'm finding most annoying at the moment.

Cheers,
JP

[raymondlin]

It's simple - Over expose by 1/2 to 1 stop, depends how much snow and what else its in the frame.

Reason - the 18% grey rule, cameras balances it's exposure on the rule that it should be 18% grey, natural environment like green grass (if focus on) will give you a perfect exposure. If you let the camera to auto expose the time for snow, it'll think it's too bright with all the white on the screen and it will automatically try to balance it, and your snow will turn out grey..........

you can get 18% grey card, useful too in the snow, point the camera at the card focus to see the exposure time you need and use the setting for the actual picture.

Don't trust the camera in snow or bright beach shots too for that matter.

There are other incidence too, like light behind the subject..etc

Take a read a this little page HERE (http://www.acecam.com/magazine/gray-card.html)

Quote "Some examples of tricky exposures
Point your camera at a scene with a lot of snow, sand, water, or sky - the camera doesn't know what it's looking at. Take pictures without adjusting the exposure and you'll get badly underexposed photographs - snow will look dirty and gray, landscapes with big expanses of sky or water will be too dark."

[Matholwch]

Get a polarizer (you probably have one already), it'll cut out a lot of the glare from the snow, and allow you to use slower shutter speeds.
I couldn't have taken any decent photos on my old A70 earlier this year if I didn't have a polarizer - the camera's shutter speed wouldn't go any faster even at the most narrow aperature, and lowest ISO speed, the picture would've been over exposed.

[Dave B]

What colour mode you using on the D70 ?

Dave

[raymondlin]

And lens hood while at it :p, ND filter to add a few more stops if you like.

And HERE (http://www.danheller.com/yellowstone.html) for some examples, i've always like this guy's work

[downhillbiker]

Quote "Some examples of tricky exposures
Point your camera at a scene with a lot of snow, sand, water, or sky - the camera doesn't know what it's looking at. Take pictures without adjusting the exposure and you'll get badly underexposed photographs - snow will look dirty and gray, landscapes with big expanses of sky or water will be too dark."

The issue I had with my old camera was that it had serious problems with over exposure of the background, so I ended up with the boarder in the foreground suffering from lack of detail, and it looked like he had been pasted onto a sheet of white card with some trees dotted about on it.

I'm using the default Ia (sRGB) mode at the moment.

[raymondlin]

I don't think you would have such an issue with the D70, just try it and see, you'll notice the result straight away, it is digital :D

[Mr Biggles]

Try and keep the camera warm as well, as batteries suffer with the cold and have a shorter life. I got caught out with mine last Christmas as a fully charged battery only lasted about 15 minutes before it decided it had had enough. Unfortunately my camera was still writing an image to the CF card at the time so it knackered the card and made it completely unreadable on the computer.

[downhillbiker]

Try and keep the camera warm as well, as batteries suffer with the cold and have a shorter life. I got caught out with mine last Christmas as a fully charged battery only lasted about 15 minutes before it decided it had had enough. Unfortunately my camera was still writing an image to the CF card at the time so it knackered the card and made it completely unreadable on the computer.

You could have probably got the rest of the photos back... happened to me the other month and I used some file scav software to get all the photos bar the last one back.

DSLR cameras tend to suffer less with the battery program, as they don't need to continually update the CCD and LCD screen - they're just taking one brief shot onto the CCD when the mirror flips over and exposes it. Luckily the Nikon also comes with a nice little battery adapter so you can use sho bought non-rechargables with it. That said, I've never been outfoxed by a flat battery with mine!

[Mr Biggles]

Well I didn't get much warning when it went. The indicator is either full, half or empty. When it goes to half, you can normally get four or five more shots before it will switch off. The indicator was full when I took the shot, half as it started writing the picture and dead a couple of seconds later. I tried numerous file recovery programs but they all required the card to be recognised and at least given a drive letter. Because it was external and Windows was ignoring it, there was nothing to point the software at :( Luckily the shop I bought it from replaced the card as it was only a couple of weeks old, and the images weren't important enough to worry about anyway.

[downhillbiker]

Ah right, fair enough.

I used "File Scavanger" and it found the card even when windows refused to acknowledge it's existence. The card was still unusable afterwards until I found some force - formatting software that sorted it all out... kind of handy considering it was a mate's CF card that I'd nicked for the evening :D

[downhillbiker]

Righto, circular polarising filter found at the local Jessops, so I'll be picking it up tomorrow... bit of a dumb thing that I never got one before now, considering I've always felt that photos were a little lacking in saturation.

Cheers.

[gothmog]

Batteries have a nasty habit of simply dropping dead if things get too cold, see the always valuable http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-15.htm :D

-- Jon

[Dave B]

I'm using the default Ia (sRGB) mode at the moment.

Try one of the other modes, I use to use sRGB all the time on my D100 but always found the images flat. I have now swapped to a different one and they are much punchier (can't remember which one I use, it's the one they recommend for portraits).

Also if on the topic of batteries, if it's the same as the D100 then you are laughing.

EDIT: Forgot as well, can you have custom curves on the D70, well worth downloading one of them if you can.

Dave

[Br00n]

Got a webby with some of your photos DHB?? Take my cam out with me on the bike aswell.

[busterboy]

Raymondlin

You have without doubt a great knowledge of photography, Just out of interest where did you learn all this. :notworthy

[downhillbiker]

Got a webby with some of your photos DHB?? Take my cam out with me on the bike aswell.

Check my signature Broon

[DeadKenny]

Definitely worth using a polariser.

Though take it off if you decide to do panoramic shots where you will be stitching them in Photoshop(etc) as it causes problems getting the sky to match ;)

I found with my Fuji S304 I had to set the exposure compensation down a few settings (-ve). I'm not sure if that's basically under or over exposing, but if I went +ve it blew out the highlights even more.

Anyway, just use the highlights preview on the D70 to check after each shot.

My dilemma is, having got my D70... should I take it skiing? :thinking:

From experience with the S304, it's awkward carrying a bulky camera when skiing. Though the S304 by comparison to a D70 is a very compact camera, just that by comparison to a pocket sized compact it's very bulky :D.

You'll need a sturdy backpack for starters and keep it in there except when taking a shot. Straps etc can get caught on lifts and a loose camera can be a pain with it swinging about. The backpack should have plenty of padding to protect the camera should it get knocked or you fall over.

Also consider getting a bag that you can zip the camera into and extract the air from, as when you move from cold to warm hotel rooms condensation can build up. Don't use the camera until it's warmed up, but even then there's a risk of water droplets drying on the CCD.

I wouldn't change lenses on the slope for risk of getting moisture and other junk into the camera chamber and possibly onto the CCD.

My main concern would be the risk of falling over or getting knocked over by a snowboarder. The D70 is a sturdy camera, but still.

The other thing to check out is insurance. Does your home contents cover the camera and accessories, plus everything else you're taking on holiday and will it cover it for what is effectively a sport? Most travel insurances won't cover the kind of value of the D70, they usually only cover a few hundred £ in personal items (which barely covers the cost of my skis alone).

I wouldn't take it on the mountain when you're doing some serious active skiing/bording. i.e. when you've got it with you, take it easy. The problem though is where to leave it when you don't take it with you. Hotel rooms are not safe and I doubt the hotels have a big enough safe.


It's a tough one. I'd love to take it as I know I'll be dissapointed with the S304. I really want a camera that at least takes a polarising filter, and has a good zoom/telephoto. I'd like to take the D70 with a telephoto for some nice shallow DOF shots, but would also like the kind of shots where a skiier/border can be in focus in the foreground but with the background mountains looking sharp too. Aerial shots of people doing stunts would be great and the D70's tracking abilities would be great for this. The S304 is hopeless in that area as by the time it's focused the moment has gone.

I could get a better compact/SLR-like, but then I may as well just take the D70 then considering the expense of buying another camera and the bulk.

Or I just get an ultra compact snapper, but polarisers are out of the question and they're a bit too "simple" for my liking.


Oh, and yes, rechargeable batteries don't last so long in the cold. Up until now I've been using NiMH AAs, and the 2100mAh would last a long time, but I took spares just in case. I've no idea how the D70's battery would last though, but the D70 is more efficient that compact digitals because it's doing very little until you take the shot, whereas the compacts are powering LCDs while composing shots.

Also remember that the manufacturer's warranty probably only covers using the camera in above zero temperatures.

Don't forget a travel adapter for the charger ;). Thankfully the charger is dual voltage so it's okay in most places in the world.


P.S. I've got a whole load of skiing photos here (http://www.sirjohn.co.uk/gallery). They're all done with my old Fuji's (1400z and S304).

[downhillbiker]

Yeah, there are a lot of risks involved, I'd need to look into suitable insurance to cover me for the duration of the winter season... I'm still convinced it'd be worth it though!

[downhillbiker]

Got the filter, but the light around today is so flat it's impossible to do any test shots...