shooting in snow

[Joe Farrell]

Hello
I've been shooting with a 4x5 camera for years and have always managed to avoid shooting in the snow. Until now. I've been in Utah the past couple of days in Utah and there's snow everywhere. I'm worried about the snow being too blown out and don't know what to expose for (as a result I've been shooting several exposures of the same scene - figuring i can at least learn something by comparison) I've basically been working with the ambient reading, and have noticed that most of the time a reflective reading off the snow is within 3 stops. I'm shooting Portra 160.

Should i be over exposing and pull processing?

Help!

[Joe Farrell]

sometimes i repeat myself repeat myself

[Dan Baumbach]

When I've shot show, I've metered off of the snow and opened up two stops. That worked fine for Velvia . You're shooting negative film that has more latitude. You also want to make sure that your shadows aren't blocked.

- Dan.

[Walt Calahan]

I use an incident meter a lot in tough lighting scenes like snow or beach sand.

A small gray card is also helpful for reflective meters.

A spotmeter is also helpful for picking out a zone V area so to avoid the snow.

Snow can be many shades of white, in shadow or bright sun, so the "meter the snow, and open up 2 or 3 stops" doesn't always work. I know 'cause I went to school in upstate NY, and then moved to Montana after graduation. Lots of snow experience. I'm in less snowy conditions now. HA!

[paulr]

i don't think there's anything special about snow. i've always used a spot meter, and placed it in a zonish sort of way where i wanted it to print. as Walter says, snow can be many shades of white ... really many shades of bright. snow in shadow, in open sky, in late afternoon light, in glaring direct sun ... there might be a six or more zone range of' where you'd want to place it. but how you do it is no different than with anything else.

[Eric Leppanen]

The generalization I learned some years ago when reflective metering off snow was to open up two stops, or 1 1/2 stops if you wanted the snow to have a slight blueish tint. In the real world, there are too many other variables that come into play for those general guidelines to always work. With chrome film I typically incident meter and exposure bracket. In your case, since negative film has far more exposure latitude with overexposure than underexposure, it is better to err somewhat on the side of overexposure. If your incident (or grey card) reading differs significantly from your reflected reading + 2 stops, then I suggest using the lower (i.e., longest exposure time) of the two readings. If you are really in doubt, then the safest approach is to bracket.

C-41 film generally does not push or pull well. My understanding is that Kodak does not recommend push or pull processing with Portra 160.

[Ben Chase]

My experience is with Fuji transparencies, so forgive me if this isn't helpful:

When shooting snow, I either use an incident meter if it's feasable, or open up either 1 2/3 stops or 2 stops. Others may have had different experiences, but I've found that anything above 2 stops gets rid of any detail that may be available, and anything less than 1 2/3 stops gives the snow an undesirable color cast.

Of course, each film is different, so YMMV.

Cheers,

Ben C

[Stephen Willard]

Joe,

If you practice the Zone system then render your image accordingly. Portra 160 has a dynamic range of about 10 stops and can handle just about anything you will find out there provided you get the shadows right. So meter the shadows and let the highlights fall where they may. With all negative film the shadows are the thinnest and should be metered and placed accordingly so that detail is retained. Typically shadows with full detail should be placed at Zone III or two stop under your reflective meter reading. If there are no significant shadow areas then meter the snow and give a Zone VII placement or two stops over your reflective meter reading.

I also would recommend using an ISO setting of 80 to 100 for Portra 160.

[John Brownlow]

Incident meter, incident meter, incident meter.

[Joseph O'Neil]

> "Incident meter, incident meter, incident meter."

Ditto, ditto, ditto.



joe