WINTER GEAR & COLD TEMPERATURES WHITE SUBJECT PHOTO TIPS

Getting ready for a winter photographic adventure can be a daunting task. Some helpful hints to get ready for cold weather photo action. When presented with those once in a lifetime photo opportunities the last thing you want is to be too cold to get the shot.

 

LAYER UP, SUNSCREEN & SUNGLASSES! Wearing layers are key to staying warm. Being too warm is not a problem, but if you are cold that can be a real problem when shooting outdoors in the cold. Be sure to wear plastic sun glasses and sunscreen to avoid snow blindness and sunburn. Keep everything covered as much as possible. Winds can greatly increase the sub temperatures. At -30C and winds at 50 km/hour you can get frostbite within 5 minutes compared to 20/km winds it would take 10 minutes. 

 

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT SO GEAR UP! Get dressed with all your gear. Keeping your gloves on practice taking photographs with your camera. Change from setting to setting. Practice moving changing your camera settings in the cold. In extreme cold weather temperature such as the Polar Bears in Churchill you will want to make the most of your time out in the extreme cold with the bear cubs.

 

EXTRA BATTERIES. Battery power is always a challenge in cold temps. Keep your extra battery,( or even better, batteries) warm while you are shooting. You battery will drain quickly so avoid the urge to constantly review images. The term you will hear from most photographers is “Chimping”. Check your info settings once and a while to ensure you have the correct camera settings then check back from time to time. 

 

WINTER WHITES. If you want to practice your settings with snow and sun and white subjects practice at home (if you have winter and snow) or at the local park. Practice with direct sunlight and overcast conditions to get used to how much compensation you may have to use to render true whites.

 

PHOTOGRAPHING WHITE SUBJECTS WITH WHITE BACKGROUNDS: When your camera is in Aperture Priority (AV) mode, you are allowing your camera to calculate the average light coming from your entire background. The camera then selects the correct shutter speed to capture the subject. When photographing white on white this can lead to subjects that are too dark as your camera works to make the snow and bright background neutral grey.

 

What to do? Use your exposure compensation (+) / (-) button and add exposure compensation ½ or +1 to stop your subject from being rendered too dark as the camera attempts to make the bright snow neutral grey. This will result in a brighter bear. If you photo has a bit of overexposure of the background back off a bit on the + compensation.

 

Too much light on your Polar Bear or Snowy Owl? Then minus compensation (-) ½ or 1.  This is to adjust for less light on your subject. This is more likely to occur with darker backgrounds.

 

When getting ready for an extreme cold adventure be sure to check your equipment list. The last thing you want to do is get outside in sub-zero temperatures with all your gear on and forget to bring an extra battery or memory card.

 

COLD TEMPERATURES: When in the extreme cold temperature you do not want to expose your skin.

At -30C is you throw a cup of boiling water outside, it will turn to snow in midair. At -20C you can get frostbite in 18 minutes

At -34C it is as cold as the North Pole. The North Pole’s average temperature in January is -34C.

Our Polar Bear and Cubs workshop located in Churchill, Manitoba can get as cold as -50C. Almost as cold as the planet Mars which has an average of -60C (-80F).

 

Winter Photography Workshops:

Polar Bears in Churchill Manitoba Canada

Snowy Owl and Owls Photography Workshop