Topic: People's recs for best film to take pics of blizzard

[hookstrapped]

Just wondering...

[02Pilot]

Never thought much about film - when I've shot in the snow I've usually ended up using Tri-X, but then you could fill in the "in the snow" part of that statement with just about anything. I have, however, thought about cameras: no folders (wet bellows seems a bad idea), no electronics (when they get wet the smoke comes out), no TLRs (focusing through a puddle doesn't work). I usually end up taking out the FED-2, which always seems to be muttering at me in a thick accent "You think this is snow? In Russia, this is sunny day!"

[hookstrapped]

 

[Francois]

I actually always sent out with m'y electronic nikons and never had any real problems. I even used the flash in a snow storm and it worked just fine. I didn't get electrocuted or anything. Though I must admit I always bring towels to wipe the excess water from the camera.

As for film, a good 400 iso film is plenty good.

[jojonas~]

a smooth film (so you don't mistake the grain for flakes. we're talking snow blizzard here, right?)
and shutterspeeds at 1/100 or over to stop them in the air. though you should adjust to stronger or calmer winds
I like a rather shallow dof of a short tele lens to make a curtain of sorts of the flakes caught in focus

flash ain't bad, brings out the flakes. along with longer shutterspeed is good too.

here's a bit slow-ish maybe around 1/25 or 1/50

and a flash from my holga. a bid meh-inducing but an example none the less

[Terry]

Peter,
I got some results I liked with Rollei Crossbird (souped E6 not C41):


img435P par Terry B, on ipernity


whiteout#1 par Terry B, on ipernity

[hookstrapped]

Terry, those are nice!

[Terry]

Thanks; both got hung in galleries.  I guess I like the magenta tint you get when you do Crossbird in E6.  When I took the first one to a local lab to have it printed for the show, they "fixed" the colors.  I sent it back of course.

[Late Developer]

I shot a lot in snowstorms in Scotland, Peak District and Lake District. 

1. Seriously cold / powder snow is best as it tends not to stick to you or the camera and, therefore, not actually "wet" your camera / equipment. 
2. If you can, stand with your back to the direction from which the snow is blowing - avoids as much as possiblefrom hitting your lens.
3. Don't go far from shelter, food and drink.  Nice photos are one thing, dying falling off a mountain, through ice or getting lost isn't worth the risk.
4. Warm your kit back up to room temperature slowly and don't store when wet.
5. Don't use "Digital Ice" to get dust off negs while scanning as it'll probably remove all of the snow - thinking it's dust.
6. Personally, I'd rather use a tripod than a flash.  Snow has movement, it doesn't just hang there frozen (pun not intended) in mid-air.
7. Why not go for Ilford 3200?

[Terry]

Paul, I like the irony of digital ICE erasing the snow.

And I'll reiterate Francois' warning against using a waist-level finder; it fills up with snow.  In Quebec.

[Bryan]

Depending on the condition I prefer a slower speed, especially if the sun comes out, then you'll wish you had something around ASA 50.  This was shot under dark early morning conditions using TMax 400 with a tripod.  Get out early before it all gets messed up by plows and people.  I have a prismatic finder on my Mamiya C3 so I don't have to worry about it filling with snow, do have to keep the bellows dry though, that's where an umbrella comes in handy. 

Snow at cabin by bac1967, on Flickr

[Hungry Mike]

Is there a filter for B&W film that works better for snow then another?

[Late Developer]

Is there a filter for B&W film that works better for snow then another?

Only if the filter will work by darkening the sky to make the whiteness of the snow more obvious - i.e. a red filter will darken a blue sky (though unusual to get blue sky at same time as a blizzard).  A polarising filter might help....?

[jojonas~]

Is there a filter for B&W film that works better for snow then another?

I read a blue filter is good for mist so maybe that?

[jojonas~]

ohyeah, I tend to like how the snow gets lit up by street lamps


- by y3x, on Flickr


Untitled by furucame69, on Flickr

[Indofunk]

A polarising filter might help....?

I think you might be onto something there, but I'm thinking that would be better for color photography. At any rate, it should minimise reflection and glare from the snow on the ground.

[Indofunk]

Is there a filter for B&W film that works better for snow then another?

I read a blue filter is good for mist so maybe that?

No idea, but it's a great excuse to try out my never-used 80A

[Hungry Mike]

though unusual to get blue sky at same time as a blizzard

I was thinking taking photos of snowy scenes in general but yes you're right not much blue sky in a blizzard! I might try a polarising filter though. That sounds like it could be an interesting experiment.

I tend to like how the snow gets lit up by street lamps

Me too actually.

I'm a little disappointed that there have been no jokes about warming or cooling filters.

[mcduff]

I generally like portra 160 but hate it with snow. I have a hard time scanning it. Snow (and any really white surfaces) come out with a magenta cast that is hard to remove.

[Francois]

5. Don't use "Digital Ice" to get dust off negs while scanning as it'll probably remove all of the snow - thinking it's dust.

This is actually a myth. Digital ICE works using the infrared channel to check the negative for opaque objects. Since the snow is in the image, it doesn't get affected.

One of the old tricks for electronic cameras is to tape a hotpack to the battery compartment to prevent the battery from dying because of the cold. I've seen this written but never actually used it.

I always just use a UV filter to get the snow from spotting the lens. A lens hood is very nice too as it prevents the snow from falling straight on the lens.
Adding a bit of blue to the image to make the scene cooler always works well with snow pictures. But I like to keep things neutral.

Having warm places to get into is always nice... I don't have that luxury in the burbz so I always put on a full snow suit. You can't believe the effect of the cold on your legs... it makes you feel cold all over!

[Terry]

I've got a Russian Kinor 35 movie camera that has heating elements spotted throughout the interior to keep the moving parts warm in sub-zero temperatures.  Idiotically, I converted the camera to run on an 18v Ryobi drill battery which, unlike the lead-acid batteries the camera was designed to use, totally failed in the cold.  I never thought to pack it with hand-warmers!

[hookstrapped]

Blizzr'd fizzer'd

[Late Developer]

5. Don't use "Digital Ice" to get dust off negs while scanning as it'll probably remove all of the snow - thinking it's dust.

This is actually a myth. Digital ICE works using the infrared channel to check the negative for opaque objects. Since the snow is in the image, it doesn't get affected.

One of the old tricks for electronic cameras is to tape a hotpack to the battery compartment to prevent the battery from dying because of the cold. I've seen this written but never actually used it.

I always just use a UV filter to get the snow from spotting the lens. A lens hood is very nice too as it prevents the snow from falling straight on the lens.
Adding a bit of blue to the image to make the scene cooler always works well with snow pictures. But I like to keep things neutral.

Having warm places to get into is always nice... I don't have that luxury in the burbz so I always put on a full snow suit. You can't believe the effect of the cold on your legs... it makes you feel cold all over!

Not disputing your technical knowledge, Francois but I've had some pretty weird "smudges" and blurring when I've used it on both colour and XP2 Super.  Whether these were from crud on the neg or something else, I couldn't say.  These days, I don't use it and do the dusting by hand.

[Francois]

The smudges are artifacts from the digital ice. Sometimes it does a good job and sometimes it doesn't.
The way it works is that it locates the parts that are opaque to infrared light and then blurs the surrounding area towards the center of the spot. While it's pretty impressive technically in the sense that you wonder who thought of it, it's in reality a pretty primitive process that could be greatly improved with today's new processes.

[SLVR]

I shot a bit of snow on the way to work. Should have yesterday though it was WAY nicer.

[Ezzie]

How are things going over there? Admittedly the forecast did predict a considerable amount of fluffy stuff, but over here it would be getting our skis out celebrating our good luck, not creeping under the blankets.   Does depend on what you are used to I suppose.

[Adam Doe]

ohyeah, I tend to like how the snow gets lit up by street lamps

I really like that second one Jonas.

[Terry]

The blizzard was not very blizzard-like around here.  Some weather people were predicting up to 18 inches but in the event we got 5.  Still got the day off work, though....

[Jeff Warden]

I took some pics in Philly this AM before the sun came up.  We were promised a bunch of snow but it didn't happen (3cm of snow is so disappointing).  But there was snow in the air so I exposed some Tri-X.  With reciprocity and f16 I was exposing for 45 seconds so I imagine the snow will look more like fog.  I'll scan a negative tonight and share.

[Indofunk]

I caught some shots yesterday afternoon, so I was able to get relatively quick shutter speeds. The speed at which snow goes from individual flakes in midair to streaks and eventually to fog is around 1/100th or 1/60th, right? I shot at a few different speeds so I should have a good mix of sharpness vs blur.

I too shot on Tri-X, mostly without a filter.

[LT]

Yellow filters are best with snow with mono film. Shadows in snow tend to have blue tinges, so the subtle effect of the yellow filter on these areas gives a  natural rendering of the snow tones. orange or red make it too contrasty.


IMO

[LT]

snow, and tree and blur

[Bryan]

Yellow filters are best with snow with mono film. Shadows in snow tend to have blue tinges, so the subtle effect of the yellow filter on these areas gives a  natural rendering of the snow tones. orange or red make it too contrasty.


IMO

Yellow - Snow, that's easy to remember 

[LT]

yes! but don't eat it 

[Francois]

I must admit that snow is probably the hardest thing to expose. 99.9% of exposure meters get things wrong.
It makes sense to use a yellow filter in B&W as it just gives contrast that little pick-me-up.

Here, no snow... just damp cold.

[Jeff Warden]

From this morning before the sun came out.  Tri-X @ 45 seconds + snow = fog 

[Terry]

Nice "star filter" effect on those street lights, Jeff.

[jojonas~]

Yellow filters are best with snow with mono film. Shadows in snow tend to have blue tinges, so the subtle effect of the yellow filter on these areas gives a  natural rendering of the snow tones. orange or red make it too contrasty.


IMO

Yellow - Snow, that's easy to remember 

a good tip and a good way to remember it! arigato both of you

[Late Developer]

Yellow filters are best with snow with mono film. Shadows in snow tend to have blue tinges, so the subtle effect of the yellow filter on these areas gives a  natural rendering of the snow tones. orange or red make it too contrasty.


IMO

Yellow - Snow, that's easy to remember 

a good tip and a good way to remember it! arigato both of you

As Frank Zappa put it so eloquently on the album Apostrophe:

"Watch out where the Huskies go and don't you eat that yellow snow...." 

[Jeff Warden]

Yellow filters are best with snow with mono film. Shadows in snow tend to have blue tinges, so the subtle effect of the yellow filter on these areas gives a  natural rendering of the snow tones. orange or red make it too contrasty.


IMO

Yellow - Snow, that's easy to remember 

a good tip and a good way to remember it! arigato both of you

As Frank Zappa put it so eloquently on the album Apostrophe:

"Watch out where the Huskies go and don't you eat that yellow snow...." 

I was wondering if someone would bring him up   

[Jack Johnson]

Yellow filters are best with snow with mono film. Shadows in snow tend to have blue tinges, so the subtle effect of the yellow filter on these areas gives a  natural rendering of the snow tones. orange or red make it too contrasty.

Good tip! I'll have to try that.

I must admit that snow is probably the hardest thing to expose. 99.9% of exposure meters get things wrong.

I always fake it with some poor orphan child of the zone system: snow is white. If the subject isn't backlit or standing in shadow, the snow provides a decent fill light. Meter off the snow and add two stops, or sunny/16 it and pretend the snow isn't there.

I have more problems using sunny/16 at these latitudes at this time of year. When the sun is only 7° above the horizon at noon, is it sunny/8?

[Indofunk]

I must admit that snow is probably the hardest thing to expose. 99.9% of exposure meters get things wrong.

I always fake it with some poor orphan child of the zone system: snow is white. If the subject isn't backlit or standing in shadow, the snow provides a decent fill light. Meter off the snow and add two stops, or sunny/16 it and pretend the snow isn't there.

I like this. I was having a lot of trouble today exposing in bright daylight with sun reflecting off the snow ... my meter wasn't letting me hit even f/16 at 1/500 with 400ASA film WITH a yellow filter on. I really should have sunny/16'ed it and told the meter to go to hell.... In slightly less-bright conditions I'll try the "snow+2" suggestion

[LT]

I always fake it with some poor orphan child of the zone system: snow is white. If the subject isn't backlit or standing in shadow, the snow provides a decent fill light. Meter off the snow and add two stops, or sunny/16 it and pretend the snow isn't there.

I have more problems using sunny/16 at these latitudes at this time of year. When the sun is only 7° above the horizon at noon, is it sunny/8?

That's the best way Jack - average meter and plus 2 stops, or dial in +2 ev if you have exposure compensation.

I hear you abouth the sunny 16 thing. Here, most of the year sunny 11 works best, unless it is mid summer.

[jojonas~]

mmm.... incident light metering

[Francois]

When it's daytime I always know my Nikon's matrix metering is at least one stop off.
What's hard to deal with during a storm is that while there is a lot of whiteness, the falling snow gobbles up a lot of light. Let's not forget that the sky at the time is completely obscured by clouds just like on a rainy day.

BTW, Jeff: very nice image.

[Terry]

Most meters are calibrated for 18% reflectance, and snow is something like 75%.  Good reasons to meter off-camera and take an incident reading.

[Jeff Warden]

Thanks guys.  I made some more night snow scenes yesterday (Tri-X/Hassy again) and generally used my iPhone meter and adjusted for reciprocity and development which resulted in negatives that I think will be printable without too much fuss. But I guess we'll see about that later.

I'll be back in the snow today with sun predicted.  My 35mm camera has a meter so I usually meter the snow and add 1 2/3 EV on the compensation dial and I've been happy with that.  Sunny 16 gets too complicated for me because of all the variables to keep track of.

[Indofunk]

I started a thread in photo essays for all of us to post our blizzard photos. Post away!

[jojonas~]

a metering article with good examples of using incident metering for shooting blizzards:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/ishootfilm/discuss/72157648168903984/

[Jeff Warden]

Just finishing a thought from earlier:  when I was out walking at lunch today I came across this white Porsche, with white snow, in direct sunlight.  That's blizzard enough for me.  :-) 

The thing was hard to look at it was so bright.  The scanner can cut through the silver on the negative, but I bet this one would be hard to wet print (for me).  Tri-X, exposed @ 200, developed @400, and I used +1 2/3 EV on the in-camera exposure compensation while metering the brightest part of the snow. 

And sorry for steering the film thread into a metering thread.