I just got back from an absolutely incredible trip to Antarctica, and I can't wait to share some of the lessons I learned about shooting snow and handling high-contrast subjects like penguins. One of the biggest things I realized on this trip is just how tricky exposure can be in extreme conditions. There was a gentleman in my group who really pays attention to histograms and tries not to clip highlights, which got me thinking even more about my approach.
After running countless tests, I've confirmed something I've always known. When it comes to highlights, with most digital cameras, anything more than about two and half stops over is pretty much gone. Shadows are a bit more forgiving. You can usually recover up to around three stops, but beyond that, you're still going to lose the detail. That said, I find it's generally better to slightly overexpose rather than underexpose. Why?
When you try to underexposed images, they often end up looking noisy and muddy, especially in the shadow areas. Overexposed images, on the other hand, tend to clean up beautifully in post. You can hold detail in both the blacks and the whites and you avoid the muddy shadow problem. So if you're debating whether to push your exposure up or down in extreme conditions, lean towards a little overexposure. Now, let's talk about the snow.
Which is a unique challenge. Remember, your camera's meter is designed to render middle gray. So if you point it at snow and just follow the meter, your bright white snow will often come out looking gray and muddy. The simple solution to this is to overexpose a little to make the snow actually look white. Another thing you can do is to bracket, especially when the light is flat. Even when you bracket heavily, keep in mind that sometimes there's no detail to capture in pure white snow. So during my Antarctica trip, I shot big wide snow fields and even my most underexposed brackets had completely blank areas. What I mean is this: the snow was just so uniform and flat, there was no shadow or texture to recover.
Even though the image and those white areas were not white because they were underexposed, there was still no detail to be had there. So when you're shooting snow, don't be afraid to push your exposure a little bit. And by that, I mean don't be afraid to let your highlights spike because there's simply no detail there. Bracket whenever possible just to be safe. You may or may not use those bracketed shots for an HDR, but you'll know that at least one of those exposures will do what you need it to do.
So that's the snow. What about high contrast subjects like penguins? Well, they present a different challenge. Penguins are black and white, and they often sit on bright snow. And seals can be very dark against white ice as well. The bottom line is you can't perfectly expose for both extremes. And bracketing won't help much because your subjects are moving.
So my approach was to slightly overexpose for the animals, prioritizing the details in the shadows, like the black feathers and eyes of penguins. Even if it meant blowing out some highlights in the snow. Basically, you need to decide what's most important in your frame. In high contrast situations, protecting shadow detail is often more impactful than holding every tiny bit of detail in the white areas, like the snow.
The snow often has very little texture anyway, so losing some of it isn't a big deal if you preserve your subject. Another thing I learned in Antarctica was the use of polarizing filters. A lot of photographers bring them to Antarctica expecting to reduce glare on snow. But here's the thing: polarizers are mostly useless for snow. There's just too much light bouncing around in too many directions.
But polarizers are incredibly helpful when you're photographing icebergs in the water. Antarctica's water is crystal clear, and with the polarizer, you can see the 90% of the icebergs that sit below the surface of the water because the polarizer will help you reduce the reflections off the surface of the water. So use them strategically. Skip the snow, but definitely use them when you're shooting icebergs in the water.
So to wrap up what I learned in Antarctica: a little overexposure is usually your friend. Bracket your shots whenever you can. When shooting snow, overexpose to make it look truly white and don't stress if some highlights clip. Use polarizing filters when shooting icebergs in the water and removing reflections, but don't rely on them for the snow. When shooting high contrast subjects like penguins or seals, decide what's most important and expose for that, even if it means some of the surrounding snow gets blown out.
If you follow these tips, you'll go home with more detailed dynamic images even in bright snow and tricky lighting situations.
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