Correcting for Gray Snow

by Mike Schumacher

Do your shots of a snowy winter wonderland turn out gray? A digital camera's metering system exposes for middle gray. If you meter bright snow, you get middle gray snow. Here's what you can do to whiten things up.

Set your exposure compensation for +1 or +1 1/3. When you take a picture, it is vital that you check your histogram. You want it to come close to the right side. If it doesn't, crank up the exposure compensation. If you are clipping on the right side (tall spikes), crank it down.

Another thing that helps is to set a custom white balance. Take a picture of open snow. Be careful of shadows, and use that as a custom white balance.

It also helps to shoot in raw. Snow reflectance will vary on overcast and sunny days. A sunny day will have lots of contrast whereas an overcast day will have soft even lighting.

Use your histogram!