Bill Silliker, Jr.

The Camera Hunter

WHAT TO DO WHEN ALL'S WHITE WITH THE WORLD

     White, white, white - everything is white. You have white backgrounds for outdoor portrait photographs, white foregrounds for winter action photographs and white everywhere for winter scenic photographs. The hills are alive with an abundance of white. 

     Do you think that all that white stuff has any impact on your camera's ability to make properly exposed pictures? You better believe it. Think about the reflection of light off of snow for a moment. About the only natural thing on earth that reflects more light is the surface of a pond when the sun hits it at the right angle. 

     Contrary to what some camera manufacturers might have you believe, you cannot totally trust camera meters when the camera's viewfinder looks at that much light. That's especially true for the center area of the viewfinder because that's where many camera manufacturers "center weight" the meter's ability to detect light. 

     Can you see how all of that light overpowers the camera's meter? The meter "thinks" that whatever you want to photograph has so much light reflecting off of it that the film only needs a narrow shot at it. And so a camera set for an automatic exposure, or on so-called program mode, selects either a very fast shutter speed or a very small lens opening or a combination of both. All that light "blinds" the meter to seeing the much lesser amount of light reflected by a person or an animal standing in the snow. And so the meter guides you to an exposure setting that can't possibly show detail in a person's face or an animal's coat. Often such pictures show only a dark silhouette of the subject. 

     The same thing happens with winter scenics. The trees and such often come out pure black. 

     And what if you're aiming for a picture of a totally snow covered scene? The meter must do that correctly? Wrong. The meter is set to select exposure settings for an "average" scene, the ones that reflect an average amount of light. Most folks take pictures of average scenes most of the time. A meter that guides for an exposure for an average scene makes snow look dingy and gray. 

     But what about the new matrix metering and other sophisticated metering systems? Don't they take all of this into account? Sorry. Even the most modern metering systems have difficulty setting proper exposures for brightly reflective snow.

     So what do you do? Put your camera away until the snow melts? Head south for the winter? While the last choice might appeal to some, I just know that all readers of this column enjoy the outdoors in Maine in all seasons so much that they think it's better to learn how to deal with photographing the snow instead. Well, maybe a week in Florida would be okay. But guess what happens when you photograph your significant other on that sandy white beach? 

     So how can you get a proper exposure? It's easier to show with an example. Picture a black Labrador retriever in a snowbank. The black dog reflects minimal light, while the snow reflects all of it. If you meter the dog to set your exposure the snow will be horribly overexposed. If you meter the snow the dog becomes a lump of coal in the photograph.

     The solution is to look for something that reflects an average amount of light and meter from that to set an exposure for a subject in the same light. Read that again: look for something that reflects an average amount of light and meter from that to set an exposure for a subject in the same light. 

     What reflects an average amount of light? Middle toned green grass does. Since that's hard to find in winter, try metering the blue sky directly opposite the sun. If there's no blue sky, look for average gray rocks, average yellow grass in snow-free wetlands or along roadsides, the average gray bark on some trees - the list goes on and on. Meter average things, not the real light or the real dark stuff. Base your exposure settings on that and adjust if need be to allow a bit more light to photograph an all black dog or a bit less light for your basic snow scene. 

     I also always carry a gray card, available through many camera stores, to keep a reference point available. Simply stated, a gray card reflects an average amount of light. To use a gray card, hold it so that it reflects light evenly and in the same light as that hitting your subject. Meter from it and set your exposure. 

     There's should be plenty of snow to practice on this year. Catch yours in the great light.

Bill Silliker, Jr. teaches wildlife & nature photography for L.L. Bean's Outdoor Discovery Schools and has done the photography for 5 books, several of which he also wrote. He is editor of the website www.wildlifewatcher.com as well as for his own website at www.camerahunter.com

© Copyright 2000 Bill Silliker, Jr. all rights reserved.