Snow scenes

[alanjarvis 57]

I'm off to Chamonix in the French Alps next week with my 1930s Zeiss Ikontas with uncoated Tessar lenses. I will be taking some Ilford Pan F and FP4 and Kodak Portra. I will be setting exposure with my newly acquired Weston meter (replacing my trusty old one which broke when I dropped it) it appears to be quite accurate when tested against a digital camera meter.

Some questions on exposure. I have heard with snow scenes you should set the camera to overexpose to get nice white snow. Have I got this right? So with FP4 maybe I should set the meter at ISO 200 rather then 125. Or is it the other way around? (set the meter slower) I always get this confused!

Any advice about the uncoated lenses and the sun? Keep them apart I guess to avoid flare.

Thanks
Alan

 

[Bob Wilson]

Other way around. Slower film needs more exposure. Set the meter to ISO 60 or so.

 

[hepcat]

Or use your meter in incident mode rather than reflected mode for an accurate reading. Remember, if you're doing reflected readings, the meter expects the subject you're metering to be an 18% gray card equivalent, and will read whatever you point it at as such. Using the meter in incident mode measures the light falling on the subject rather than reflected from it. Or, you can meter off the back of your hand... which is close enough to 18% to get by.

 

[Overkill-F1]

I agree with hepcat's advice, except if I use the palm of my hand and a reflective meter reading, I add one stop to my meter's reading (overexpose). The meter reads Zone V (middle gray, 18%) and my skin should be Zone VI (one stop brighter).
If you want to keep it simple, an incident meter reading works really well.
...Terry

 

[rbiemer]

High altitude and uncoated lenses? It may be worth using a UV or haze filter.
Rob

 

[Sparrow]

... snow fools reflective meters ... so you'd be better with an incident meter or sunny f16, if you use a reflective meter it will try to expose the snow as a mid'ish grey.

Just remember there will be a tendency for snow in full sunlight to blow the highlights either way

 

[Gareth Rees]

Incident light reading minus up to 1 stop for snow texture.

 

[Laviolette]

Shooting snow : advice / criticism needed

Shooting snow : advice / criticism needed

I have been shooting some winter landscapes lately (-30 celcius outside...), trying to get white snow with some texture in it. I would appreciate if anyone could give me some advice on what is working and what isn't...I still have a lot to learn!

Both pictures were shot with a Hasselblad 500cm and 60mm Distagon CF lens. The film used is Delta 100 developed in DD-X. I was using HC-110 before, but DD-X seems to give me a better snow texture for this kind of shot. The negatives were scanned with a Epson V600.

The first shot was taken in bright sunlight. Since I forgot my light meter, I used Sunny 16. No filter.

Second shot was taken in shade. I used my incident meter and I think the EV was 9 or something. No filter.

 

[marcr1230]

To my eye - they both look great
you might get more texture, the lower the sun, to create little micro shadows on the uneven snow, the first shot shows this. The second show look more overcast and the light is soft and even all around - but the exposure seems right.

 

[zauhar]

These look wonderful - especially the first one, which has an extraordinary level of detail and range of shades.

What do you think looks disappointing?

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Looks like you are already doing everything right.

 

[hepcat]

What criticism do you want? Both shots are spot-on. Well done!

 

[mfogiel]

The pictures are OK. Old school wisdom would have it, that a yellow filter would help get a bit more balanced tones, as snow reflects a lot of blue light. However a filter will risk some more flare, when shooting against the light.

 

[John Bragg]

Great shots. Very well done here ! Delta films are a good choice for long scale subjects.

 

[Laviolette]

Thanks for the advice everyone. It means much to me.

To my eye - they both look great
you might get more texture, the lower the sun, to create little micro shadows on the uneven snow, the first shot shows this. The second show look more overcast and the light is soft and even all around - but the exposure seems right.

Great idea! Thanks.

These look wonderful - especially the first one, which has an extraordinary level of detail and range of shades.

What do you think looks disappointing?

On the exposure/developing side, everything went as I expected, so I have no idea how I could have improved that part. On the composition side, maybe I would have framed a bit differently, especially the first shot. But since it was so cold that day, I was a bit in a hurry.

The pictures are OK. Old school wisdom would have it, that a yellow filter would help get a bit more balanced tones, as snow reflects a lot of blue light. However a filter will risk some more flare, when shooting against the light.

Thanks! I will do some tests next time.

To everyone : do you have a film / developer combo for this kind of situation?

I also shot some Provia 100F the same day. Rolls are being developed now. I can't wait to see how they will come out. I closed one stop over the incident reading in bright sunlight to keep the highlights. I will post here when the negatives are back.