Metering the sky for snow for B&W?

[Bruce Barlow]

Wow. I don't find snow and ice that hard at all to expose. Place highlights on Zone VII 1/2 and make the picture. Interestingly, given the abstract nature of many of the images, I usually use the negative that has increased development (I make N and N+1 1/2 exposures of each setup, closing down a stop and a half for the extended one). When I look at the proofs, the contrastier one says it better. Water goes from mealy gray to strong dark-with-highlights.

Friend Richard Ritter uses older, uncoated lenses, where he gets flare in the shadow areas that mellows things out. But his snow pictures are different than mine in approach and feel (and better than mine, too...).

Heresy for here, but my best snow and ice pictures are 35mm, actually. Many with Tri-X, but this year with FP4, and the new ones are lovely.

[Bill_1856]

What is snow?

[Alan Curtis]

Bill I'm also in Florida and I don't know what these people are talking about. The only ice I see is in a glass.