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    How to take photos in snow, ice and cold

    Team Gore
    Team Gore

    We’re getting close to the end of our dog sled tour through the wintery wilds of northern Norway. On the last day, our group took the time to explore two national parks, Øvre Dividal und Rohkunborri. Along the way, our group, with 55 dogs and 7 adventurous mushers (those who drive or “mush” the sleds), had encountered clear and dry days with temperatures of -30 degrees as well as snowy wet ones at -5. Our camera gear had certainly taken a lot. In the winter, guidelines for image composition and finding a special perspective as well as having the necessary knowledge of your camera’s settings are nearly identical to those in the summer. However, when it’s particularly cold, snowy and icy, there are a few other points you must take into consideration to get the photos you want.

    Dogsledding through Dividal and Rohkunborri National Parks. Norway.
     

    On the last morning, we spent the night in a tent on a frozen river, and we all had problems with fogged up lenses. There was a little more moisture in the air that settled into the cameras. But only Jason started swearing – the mirror in his camera was frozen solid. It was showing error message and refused to work. It wasn’t until we were back in civilisation and warmth a day later that the problem resolved itself. Read on to find out how to keep shooting in the winter.

    Batteries/power packs

    When the mercury drops, so too does the life of power packs and batteries. In general, you should use lithium-ion batteries for all electronic and electric devices in the winter, for example, headlamps. They keep their charge longer, which evens out the higher purchase price. Power packs are of course only available as lithium-ion. You never want to fall prey to finding out your battery simply gave up the ghost in below-zero temperatures and can’t muster enough charge even though theoretically it really shouldn’t be empty. So always keep a second battery on hand and, if possible, keep it close to your body to keep it warm. If the first battery gives up, you can quickly change them out. Batteries that have been sucked dry in the cold can be recharged at least part way when they are warm again. You can also swap out your battery a second time too if needed. Generally speaking, one can fortunately say that camera batteries – at least those in larger cameras like the Canon 5D or Nikon D800 – are surprisingly strong these days. Even when temperatures sink to 20 degrees below zero, several hundred exposures are still possible.

    Dogsledding through Dividal and Rohkunborri National Parks. Norway.
     

    Moisture

    A larger problem than power supply is posed in my view by moisture. In the winter, this can settle onto and into your camera housing and lenses, and in the worst cases it can freeze. That’s when you have a real problem. For my friend whose camera’s mirror froze shut on the fifth day of our Norway tour, the camera simply wasn’t functional anymore. Moisture builds up when for example a cold camera is moved to a warmer location. And that can even mean your tent, which may be 20 degrees warmer than outside due to a lantern or stove. The rule is: Leave the camera if possible during an entire winter outing outside in your camera gear bag, even overnight. If that isn’t possible, for example due to safety concerns, then try to acclimatize the camera as slowly as possible to inside temperatures. For this, you can keep it in your closed camera gear pack. Even better however is a dry sack with a roll top that you use to force out as much air as possible before rolling the top shut.

    Cleaning cloths

    Since moisture can condense on your gear even from your breath, it is wise to keep on hand a number of absorbent cleaning cloths. Keep one in every jacket or trouser pocket and a few more in your camera gear pack.

    Gloves

    Dogsledding through Dividal and Rohkunborri National Parks. Norway.
     

    Even if your batteries are fully charged and your camera isn’t fogged up or frozen from moisture, not much functions in the winter if you haven’t thought about having the right gloves. If it’s too cold, then your bare fingertips will hurt nearly immediately, especially when you touch the cold metal of your camera. Thick down mittens are the right choice when you are doing a dog sled tour in -30 degree temperatures, but then you can’t operate a camera. There are thin glove liners made of wool and somewhat thicker ones of Powerstretch that usually allow you enough dexterity to manage your camera settings. Such gloves can also be worn as a base layer under thicker mitts. There are of course also combination products where an outer glove or mitten can be flipped open to expose thinner inner gloves you can use to operate small camera dials and buttons. And there are mittens that have a front portion that totally flip open to bare your fingers. Which hand covering is better is truly a matter of personal preference. You just have to try out the options. Here are a few recommended models: - Icebreaker Oasis Glove - Millet Exploration Mitt - Marmot Powerstretch Glove - Marmot Windstopper Convertible Glove

    Focusing pitfall: falling snowflakes

    Thick, falling snow can make photos exciting and convey the feeling of a true winter wonderland. Still, you have to be careful that you get the right focus. Snowflakes can totally confuse the auto-focus of a camera. You don’t get the skier’s face in focus but the snowflakes that are in front of his face. So pay attention and always check to make sure your focus is correct.

    Beware automatic exposure

    Another pitfall for auto-exposure is bright snow. It confuses the light meter and leads it to believe there is lots of light, particularly if everything is “only” white and not particularly bright. This causes a lot of photos to be underexposed if you don’t use manual settings. You can correct this with the exposure compensation control that you use to adjust the exposure up. Normally, +1 (that is, plus one “stop” or one opening of the aperture) works quite well. But it’s not always enough – or sometimes even too much – so regularly check your photos or the histogram. Ideally, take RAW photos so you have more control over corrections when processing photos afterward or you can save photos that on first glance looked under- or overexposed.

    Dogsledding through Dividal and Rohkunborri National Parks. Norway.
    Dogsledding through Dividal and Rohkunborri National Parks. Norway.

    Careful of footprints

    Untouched snow looks so beautiful and romantic, just as footprints in an otherwise untouched landscape or in the foreground of an action photo don’t look so good. So on location, don’t walk all over without regard. Rather, immediately after you arrive, think about in which direction you would like to shoot. From time to time it’s also necessary to walk a big circle from where you are standing to the next place you want to shoot to maintain a pristine foreground.

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