Shooting snow footage?

MatthewC

MatthewC

Well-known member
What are some good tips or techniques to shoot better footage on the snow? I'm going to be dressing my boarders in lighter colours as much as possible, so I can actually get some detail off them. If they were in darker colours I'd probably end up overexposing trying to make them more than just a black blur.

Then of course it all changes depending on whether you have the sun out or not, flat lighting, etc. Are there any neat little tricks used to pull more detail out of the snow? I'm going to get it as bright as possible without blowing it out, but there's gotta be some other things out there that can help.

Any special snow filters? Pretty much it's going to be my first time seriously shooting snowboarding (I goofed around once last year) and I'm just trying to prepare for it. I'm fairly competent with lighting, camera work, and all the necessary jargon to handle filming.

What about temperatures? Moisture? Working in cold weather? Any tips or advice would be great. Even just past experience stories.
 
You'll want to use a Polarizer first and foremost. This will help you reduce some of the reflected light off of the snow, and it will also help make those bluebird skies more blue. Get a good quality B+W one and you'll be set. You may also consider getting a set of ND's and ND grads to help out too. There are a BUNCH of different ND grads- hard edge, soft edge etc etc...That's about all I can think of right now...
 
Yes, polarizer and ND grad are absolutely necessary. A daylight filter is nice to keep things from going ultra-blue.

Tiffen makes some ultra-contrast filters. I've never used them in snow/sand, but they have really helped me in other situations. It's possible they could help quite a bit.
 
I've got a decent polarizer. I'll have to find myself some ND grad filters. Ultra contrast eh?


Daylight filter, how exactly does it work. If I white balance why do I need something to keep everything from being blue.

If you can adjust contrast in post, what do you gain using contrast filters?

New to filters, thanks for the info so far.
 
Daylight filter would allow you to just set WB at 5600k. If you were shooting film it would be essential. It will cut UV, too, which you might notice if you do any wides with a few miles to the horizon.
Tiffen ultra contrast will help reduce contrast in the image, effectively increasing your latitude.
If you can afford film, by all means, shoot film. It will look great. But for many of us budget is a concern.
 
To piggy back off this thread, are there any precautions one should take before heading out into the snow to shoot? I have little experience shooting in 32* or colder conditions.

Thanks!
 
I shot in 3 degrees with 30 mph winds. My fluid tripod head froze solid, and my batteries died a lot quicker. Oh and everyone complained.

If you use anything wet to clean the lens like alcohol wipes, it won't evaporate very well. If you bring the cold camera into a warm room from outside the lens will fog. I'd try to avoid rapid temperature change.

A lot depends on the camera you're using. If you're using a film camera with large moving parts then you'll start to have problems. If you use MiniDV there is a good potential for problems. The HVX is great for cold weather since it's all solid state!

You'll notice your LCD refreshes slower too.

If you don't have a rain cover, stop at the dollar store and grab some garbage bags, utility knife, and some duct tape. With a little creativity you can make some rad one-time use rain covers.

Good luck!
 
Yeah, I had a terrible time with an XL2 at about 2 degrees. The LCD smear was incredible (you could see trails about three seconds long), and the record head worked most of the time (the playback head didn't work at all). I bought a bunch of those sticky foot warmers and put them in a big wool sock, and wrapped it around the cam. I think it helped. After using the HVX I'd never shoot MiniDV below 20 degrees.
Keep your batteries inside your jacket. Figure on about 1/2 battery life by 10 degrees. Also budget extra time.
Load up your case with dessicants/moisture control. If you lock your airtight case outside, you'll minimize the moisture that condenses if you have to move the camera from one place to another through a warm place. You could even put a few of those foot warmers stuck to the wall of the case.
 
You can buy a couple of those palm sized "heat packs" at most camping stores for only a few bucks. They have a soft fabric cover, and you can tape/velcro them onto the camera's flip out screen. (Backside of course). I don't think you'll need to go this extreme unless the temp drops into the 20's, or your outside for an extended period of time. Enjoy the weather..lol
 
Another question on this topic, shooting for good slow-mo, I know I'll get the best of I don't shoot in 24p, but if I do, can I shoot 30p at 1/120 and get decent slow-mo? Or can the DVX not shoot in that frame rate at 30p? Do you people normally shoot 24p?
 
30P at 1/60th yields frame-accurate film-style slow motion when you bring it into a 24P timeline and have it play back at 80% speed.
 
Barry_Green said:
30P at 1/60th yields frame-accurate film-style slow motion when you bring it into a 24P timeline and have it play back at 80% speed.
Click to expand...

Thanks Barry, unfortunately I lost your book and am really kicking myself for not having easy access to that fountain of knowledge once again. Now, if I start doing some time-remapping, etc. it would probably be a lot smoother if I wasn't shooting 30p, correct? I'm limiting how far into I can with this using 30p?
 
Your 80% speed isn't going to look slow-mo as much as it will look slow-er. You might experiment with shooting 60i and 30p and converting them both to 24p to see which you like better (slowed down to 40%). After Effects does some impressive stuff to 60i and it can do some halfway decent tweening too.
 
Use of a polarizer isn't always necessary. Especially at altitude as it will turn your sky not rich blue, but black. Though maybe that's the look you want? Either way, it's a key filter to have. You can always take it off, or put it on.
 
snowleopard said:
Use of a polarizer isn't always necessary. Especially at altitude as it will turn your sky not rich blue, but black. Though maybe that's the look you want? Either way, it's a key filter to have. You can always take it off, or put it on.
Click to expand...

Ah, good to know. I'm not too worried about using it for the skies or anything, mostly just for minimizing reflections of snow covered objects.
 
i've had a lot more experience with 16mm in the mountains than P2 or DV, but i'll give it a shot.

on our HDV cameras, we always have a contrast filter and stop down a good 2 stops. this usually means the internal NDs and sometimes a ND6 filter on a blue bird day. this reduces the latitude that the imager has to record, which you can then expand again in your color correct session. kinda like audio recording to vinyl or cassette.

keep those batts warm. we keep our 16mm batts in our jackets with cables running out to the camera.

try to loosen your tripod head before your shot, panning and tilting the crap out of it. it gets gummy. this is where a good tripod becomes garbage and a great tripod becomes acceptable. practice the movement of the shot a few times beforehand.

get thin gloves to wear under your normal gloves. then you can adjust settings and focus with the thin gloves without getting too cold.

shoot film. the 12 stops of latitude are nice! half the battle with shooting HD in snow is controlling exposure (see above). its expensive i know, but worth it - that is, if the athletes are doing their job too.

train! you're hiking with a heavy pack there. you have to ski/board the same terrain as the pros or semi-pros you're shooting. if you want to keep up with them and get a decent number of shots, you have to be in top shape.

for action sports style slo-mo, shoot at a higher rate than 30p. when filming we're usually around 36-48fps, and usually faster when shooting from a heli (helps cover up shake).

bring a cell phone. give everyone a Talkabout radio. if in avalanche terrain, have a beacon, probe, shovel, buddies and avalanche training. if you are missing even one of these things, get your butt out of there. be smart about where you're shooting.

have fun.

e
 
also, for the reasons listed in the previous posts, if you are going inside, leave cameras outside unless you are sure you're done shooting outside for the day.

leave the 35mm adapter at home. when shooting in the mountains, deep depth of field is your friend. if you're having your buddy ski/board toward you, you want to be concentrating on framing, not focus. also, you dont need the added weight of lenses, adapters and rails.

e
 
To piggy back off this thread, are there any precautions one should take before heading out into the snow to shoot?
Click to expand...
Don't expect to be using your LCD screen much - on a sunny day in the mountains it looks just black. When you take off your sunglasses you might be able to see something, but not much ;)
 
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