Help me shoot snow falling, please.

[Waldo]

I'm pretty new at this, but I have a good handle on how to work the camera... I just need a place to start.

It is supposed to snow a whole bunch of the next few days. I'd like to try and get some of it as it is coming down. Any tips? I've read a little bit here about setting the white balance +1 manually so the snow doesn't show up as a semi-lame grey.

Other tips or starting points are welcome.

[oldwolf]

do you want the snow to be blurry or do you want to freeze the motion?

tinker with the shutter speed. just really depends on what type of mood or composition you're going for.

[roguegenius]

Originally Posted by Waldo

I'm pretty new at this, but I have a good handle on how to work the camera... I just need a place to start.

It is supposed to snow a whole bunch of the next few days. I'd like to try and get some of it as it is coming down. Any tips? I've read a little bit here about setting the white balance +1 manually so the snow doesn't show up as a semi-lame grey.

Other tips or starting points are welcome.

In my part of the country, we don't get much snow, so I am definitely not an expert. I was trying to take some snowfall in Houston a week or so ago and the only ones that really showed the snow very well had something dark in the background. Snow against the drab gray sky did not provide enough contrast to allow the snow to be distinguishable. Not sure if this will be of any assistance, but is the only thing I had to offer.

[Kevin Anderson]

If you follow the link to flickr I have a few examples of falling snow, I think it's all about experimenting to find out what you like best...

Waiting for it to fall again!!! Let it snow, let it snow, let snow......

[Waldo]

Kevin --

The lamp light is the shot I'm looking for. Going to try and recreate with a street light. 1/60 and 1600 -- I'll try a few in and around that range.

Thanks!

[Kevin Anderson]

Let me know how things work out for you....

Best of luck!

Kev

[natek313]

Originally Posted by Waldo

I'm pretty new at this, but I have a good handle on how to work the camera... I just need a place to start.

It is supposed to snow a whole bunch of the next few days. I'd like to try and get some of it as it is coming down. Any tips? I've read a little bit here about setting the white balance +1 manually so the snow doesn't show up as a semi-lame grey.

Other tips or starting points are welcome.

You don't want to set the WB to +1; you want to set the exposure compensation (if you're shooting in Av or Tv mode) to about +1EV - maybe more/less depending on your camera.

[looking4OPH]

Another fairly newby here....recently moved up from Canon SD800IS to Sony a330. Would love to see some of your falling snow results, as that is something I've been trying as well. I think I may get more chance at it in the Chicago area, but still haven't had much luck.

[Elmo]

Try using flash set up as fill flash. This will give base area realistic exposure and flash will accent the snow flakes.