Any tips for shooting in snow in full sun?

L

Lkorver

Well-known member
Shooting some snowboarding this weekend on the 7d. I've got the Vari-ND filter which should come in handy but I was wondering if anyone..

1. Have any good presets that could help the camera deal with all the blown out whites?
2. Any metering advice on finding correct exposure amidst all the blown out whites? I don't want it the image to be too contrasted.
3. any other tips and tricks to hopefully come away with some good images?

thanks in advance!

Luke
 
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Your camera, by default, is set to expose for middle gray. If it sees a plethora of white (snow), it will underexpose your footage most likely by up to two stops, so keep that in mind when you're reading your TTL light meter on the camera. Check your Histogram often.

If you are shooting snowboarders and want to see their faces, let's say, you will want to orient yourself where the sun is giving them a nice key, as opposed to you being on the side of them opposite the sun, which will silhouette them (again, unless you want that look for a shot - might look cool).

A Polarizer may come in handy because it will bring the level of the sky down and avoid blown-out highs. I imagine the sky will be in a good amount of your footage on the slopes.

Turn on HTP: Highlight Tone Priority. This will prioritize exposing the highlights, preserving data and avoiding clipping in the highs.

If you want to use a Picture Style preset, use something with linear or flat gamma curves, the latter of which will preserve data in the highlights (snow) and shadows (everything else). You only have 8 stops of Dynamic Range to work with in the 7D; make them count by composing your shot to work within the camera's range, though, rather than trying to push the envelope with a picture style or other pieces of kit.
 
which presets have the flatter curves, besides "superflat".
would dialing down the contrast be a good idea as well?

thanks.
 
ND filters
shoot flatter (no superflat, just dial contrast all the way down on standard or neutral. Dial down sharpness if you like too)
Since snow is one giant highlight you can expose for the snow. Keep in mind your subject might be darker. If so expose for the subject but keep in mind the snow might blow out. In all reality snow is actually a good bounce fill for the subject so you should be ok. Depends on how dark your subject is or isn't. Just do some tests and full around.
 
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