We still have a few months left of winter in the northern half of the world. And when I take a look at all the submitted photos online, I keep wondering why people would post those photos. A reminder that snow is white, not grey. So, how do we get beautiful, amazing white snow winter photos? We will go through that step by step.

WATCH FOR CONTRAST TO HELP OUT

The camera system has a hard time with just white scenery. The best exposure and autofocus situation will be best when there is some contrast to the image. Notice with this above photo, the contrast between snow and the leaves and branches. Good contrast, and the snow came out white! (White snow makes me happy!)

In most cases though, you don’t have that big of desire to have all your photos to be close-ups of snow on trees.

YOU WILL NEED TO OVERRIDE WHAT YOUR CAMERA METER SAYS

You’ll need to dial in one or two stops of positive exposure compensation. Due to the quirks of its meter, your camera will try to make the snow look gray. Exposure compensation will counteract the meter to keep things bright.

Note: If you’re shooting in Manual mode, you can simply decrease the shutter speed by a stop or two to achieve the same result.

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LEARN HOW TO USE “LIGHTROOM” FOR YOUR WINTER PHOTOS:

One thing to understand, that I have found, no matter how hard you try with your camera, getting it perfect, getting the snow to look white, and the other trees, mountains to have nice rich color may require some work on “lightroom” to get it right. I absolutely love how my winter photos have turned out since I have used “lightroom”.

GET YOUR PHOTOS WHILE THE SNOW IS STILL FRESH:

There is something really magical about taking your winter photos right after a snowfall. The snow hasn’t had time to settle, everything is covered in snow, and the beauty of winter is amazing just then. As they say, sometimes in photography, the best photos come from just having good timing.

TRY TAKING PICTURES WHILE IT IS STILL SNOWING

Taking pictures while it is snowing shows that you will do anything to get the “perfect photo”. It takes some fortitude to go out during the snowstorm, but, the pictures are real. As you do this, make sure you use a somewhat fast shutter speed to get your snow to stop in mid-air. If you can’t get a fast enough shutter speed, raise your ISO up higher to be able to make those changes.

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WATCH OUT FOR YOUR BATTERIES

Oh yeah, the batteries go weak when they get cold. If you are planning on going out for an extended time, make sure you have some extra batteries. And keep your batteries in your pocket as much as possible when you are not using the camera, or put your spare batteries in your pocket, and alternate them.

TRY DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES WHILE OUT IN THE SNOW:

Winter storms create amazing photos that you can’t get any other time. Try different angles, perspectives of what is amazing about the storm. You will capture photos that a lot of people miss.

CONCLUSION:

Winter is an amazing time to take photos. Be brave and go out and take a few photos. The winter scenes are always amazing, and you can get photos that not many people capture.