Learn: 10 Tips for Photographing in Cold Winter Weather

Despite the low light conditions and even lower temperatures, the winter months provide excellent conditions for interesting photography. Frost, fog, and snow can, for example, add drama to landscapes. But these conditions can be tough on your body and your photography gear. In this article, we share our advice for photographing in winter and keeping your gear safe and secure.

Keeping your equipment in tip-top condition is important if you’re going to get the shot you need. While cameras are generally pretty robust, there are certain things you can do to ensure nothing goes wrong.

1. Check your exposure

First, keep an eye on your exposure to snow. Your camera, having a reflective meter, will try to expose for middle grey. Since snow is obviously rather white, your camera could make snow appear greyish. All you need to do is compensate for exposure by a stop or two until you feel the whites appear completely white.

2. Use L-brackets

If you’re planning on taking any long exposures—landscapes or the Northern Lights pictures, for example—use an L bracket to save time. An L bracket enables you to recompose from landscape to portrait orientation without having to fumble around with the tripod or readjust heights.

3. Try a quick-release system

A quick-release system is essential if you’re moving your camera from a strap around your neck to a tripod. When your camera’s on a tripod, no one wants a strap flapping around in the icy wind, making your shot blurry.

4. Get a shutter remote or use timer functions

For long exposures, use your camera’s timer function—or shutter release remotes—to reduce any motion blur from your hands touching the shutter release button. This is especially useful if you’re shivering.

5. Get out your zoom lens

While many people love using primes, zooms are more efficient. When the temperature drops, a good zoom lens allows for quick and flexible recomposing without having to move or switch lenses. Plus, there’s no risk of debris getting on your camera sensor.

6. Mount your camera to a tripod

You should consider several factors when choosing the right tripod. Portability and cost are two of these factors. However, always pay close attention to the weather conditions, specifically wind. A light tripod might not be the wisest choice, especially if your camera and lens are heavy. A heavier tripod will aid stability and ensure your shots are less compromised.

Ensure that each part of your tripod is tightened ahead of your trip. There’s nothing worse than a tripod coming loose with no tools available to fix it, or having to make adjustments while wearing thick gloves. Make sure that all rotating parts move just enough and that there is no play.

Touching bare metal with ungloved hands is a no-no—cold metal just saps heat away from you. Try to wrap parts of your tripod in soft material. Many tripods come with a leg wrapped in soft foam, but you can easily fashion this yourself with different materials. Or, use velcro pieces.

7. Keep your batteries warm

Batteries will drain quicker in extreme cold. So, keeping them warm will ensure you don’t quickly end up with flat batteries. Depending on how many layers you are wearing, you can keep them close to your body—store them in an inner pocket, close to your chest.

8. Watch out for condensation

If driving between locations, maintain your camera at a consistent temperature. When the camera’s temperature changes from extreme cold outside to the warm interior of a car, condensation can form around the camera and within the lens. This can lead to unnecessary moisture and can cause fungus to grow. 

Keep your camera bag in the car boot so the temperature change isn’t as big. When you’re finished shooting and ready to go home, keep the camera in your camera bag as long as you can. This means your camera and lenses will have time to acclimate to the surrounding temperature.

9. Use a head-mounted flashlight

In the winter, night arrives quicker than you’d think. A head-mounted flashlight will enable you to see your dials when you change camera settings. Even if you have button placement memorised, a flashlight is still useful if you drop something or need to find something in your camera bag.

10. Wear warm waterproof clothing

The human body is the most important part of your photography setup, so you should look after it, too. A waterproof pair of shoes and outer layers, plus a number of inner layers, will keep you warm, dry and happy. Shivering hands won’t help you create good photographs in winter.

Read more tips and techniques on the MPB content hub.