Snow & White Balance

North Texas really got dumped on last week. Where I live (McKinney) got 7" of snow and we were lucky to only get that much. I'm not that crazy about snow. I know, it's sooo pretty, but I hate having to put my whole life on hold until it's safe to drive and businesses and schools reopen.

Growing up in NJ, we'd get several snowfalls per year. The most I can remember getting was about three feet! But in Texas, it's quite rare. We might get one snowfall per year in this part of the state, and usually no more than two inches and it's always melted within twelve hours. So to get THIS much at once was quite unusual.

BUT...it does make for some pretty photography...if you know HOW to take pics in the snow. Many pictures I see posted look very gray. The reason? A camera will pick the brightest part of a scene and make it neutral gray. You have to over expose your shot to get the whites to look white. When I went out last week,  I over exposed by 2 stops and it still wasn't enough. Luckily, I brought my gray card along so I could easily fix it in post.

A gray card allows you to set your white balance when editing a picture. By telling the software what in the picture is neutral gray, it corrects the color in the picture.

First, take a picture of the gray card in the exact light you're shooting in:

Most photo editing software has a white balance tool (I use Lightroom). By clicking the tool on the gray card in the picture, it changes to this:

Much closer to the real color of the scene. I then sync the settings in this picture to the rest of the pictures I took in the same light. Then I can play with the other settings (exposure and temperature) until I get something I like. The b&w pic at the top was done entirely in Lightroom.

The gray card I use is made by Whibal and I use it almost every time I'm shooting, indoors or out. 

Of course, casual shooters are probably not going to bother with a gray card. So, when shooting in snow, the key to getting accurate looking pictures is to over expose. 

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