Metering the sky for snow for B&W?

[John Kasaian]

This is just a thought I was wondering of any of you have explored. I'd do this myself on there isn't any snow in my nieghborhood in June.
To find a good exposure for snow, what do you think of metering off the sky--- providing the the sky is clear? This would make the sky 18% gray which I'm thinking would contrast nicely with snow and make any clouds "pop," perhaps even showing some "structure" in the snow (so it dosen't look like shaving cream) while keeping it white and not mucky looking (which is what I'd get metering off the snow.)

[Vaughn]

I find it easier just following the normal "Zonie" system. Meter the shadows, see where the snow and sky fall. Then exposed for the shadows and develop for the highlights.

"Metering off the snow" does not mean using the exposure one gets from pointing the meter at the snow.

Vaughn

[RichardRitter]

Place the snow on Zone VII1/2 if it is the main zone you want.
Want to practice a white sheet thrown on the ground in a pile in the sun and in the shade. Also practice photographing glass objects for the replacement of ice.

[lenser]

Agreed with the others on how to expose for snow using the zone system. As for making the clouds pop. go for either yellow or red filters (depending on how dramatic you wan the image) and let them make that difference. Be sure to add the filter factors on the exposure and you're good to go. This will also deepen the shadows in any snow texture (since shadows have much blue and ultraviolet spectrum) while making the highlights glow with more contrast.

Tim

[Ken Lee]

What Richard said.

There is no one hard rule which will apply in circumstances: only guidelines, and practice makes perfect.

Have a look at some good photos with snow in them, like this one by Ansel Adams.

You will see that snow can occupy a broad range of tones, from Zone IV all the way to pure white, depending on the scene - and the items which are adjacent to the snow.

A medium tone may look light, when next to a very dark object, and vice versa. Snow may appear white to the eye, even when it's not.

[christopher walrath]

I metered the bright snow in this image and then increase exposure by two and a half stops to get it bright but not washed out. Everything else fell into place.

[John Kasaian]

Beautiful photo, Christopher! Thanks!

[BOB MURPHY]

Take a meter reading and open up 3 stops. Works all the time. For B&W only.

[Bruce Barlow]

John, metering the sky (assuming it's blue) works fine for snow or anything else. Other suggestions, such as metering the brightest part of the snow and opening up from that reading by 2 1/2 stops works, too.

And, as always, Richard's idea of practicing with white plastic (such as a white garbage bag) also works. In fact, I did a series of not-bad abstract photographs of one such garbage bag crumpled up in various patterns in my back yard long ago. Might as well do more than just practice metering, and even if you don't make keepers, you have good negatives you can use to practice printing snow...

[SAShruby]

John,

taking snow pictures is not that easy. To prevent from using dodging or masking, you need to find optimal film, exposure, developer and development technique.
Most of the time you will work with very high BSR, therefore the most crucial step is to properly meter your shadows. What you want in Zone 3 should be exposed at least in Zone 4, I usually set to zone 4.5, and the reason is the very short development time. After that, you measure your highlights. If snow has the highest value, and your desire is to have lot of details in the snow, put them in zone 8. Determine SBR - I use BTZS for Palm. What you'll get is final SBR of 10-15. Normal is 7.

Because of an extreme condition, usually films aren't manufactured to capture such high SBR range; therefore you need to test your film with combination of the developers and the development technique to find the best solution.

Personally, I use FP4 with stand development in Pyrocat-HD 1:1.5:200.

This method will give me proper negative and with the combination of VC FB paper and appropriate filter, I work to desired final print.