Shooting in the snow

I have a Nikon D90. I want to shoot my daughter while she skies. All the reading have been doing says you want to overexpose by +1 or +2 stops when shooting with snow to keep the snow looking white.
So I have a few questions.....What mode should I shoot in? A or S, or something else. From the reading I have done it seems the A would be best so I can control the light and let the camera choose the shutter speed. So say I choose my f/stop, then I use EV and go +1 or +2 wont the camera re adjust the shutter speed to get what it thinks is the correct exposure? Defeating the overexposure I made with the exposure comp. No matter what mode I choose weather it be P, A, or S isn't that what the camera tries to do....get the correct exposure by adjusting something to correct my setting? So how does the EV do what you want it to without the camera making changes to my changes? The only conclustion I come to is using the M mode, and in M mode the EV isn't needed because I am setting everything anyway.
Some please help me understand....I have been readin and reading...and the more reading I do the more confused I get.

You are basically correct with one small problem. If you use A mode and set your aperture to where you want it and then set your EV to +1 or +2, your camera will choose the shutter speed for the "correct" exposure. That "correct" exposure is now +1 or +2 depending on what you set your EV+/- at. The camera is choosing the settings based on the EV +/- value that you set. It is not going to revert back to an 'even' exposure for lack of a better term.

The same holds true if you use the S mode. The camera will adjust the aperture to get the proper exposure based on the EV +/- setting you choose.

For a fast moving subject like someone skiing, I would suggest using the S mode and choosing a shutter speed fast enough to stop the action and let the camera worry about the aperture.

Manual mode would be pretty easy to use as well but you may need to make a lot of adjustments on the fly if your light is changing a lot.

Ok, I understand what you are saying about setting the EV and how the camera reacts to my settings.
This past weekend we took her skiing, I used S mode and found that a 7 year old only needs a shutter speed between 150 to 400 tops to freeze her motion.
I was shooting her into the sun for the most part unless the sun ducked behind the clouds everyonce and a while. I tried the EV setting at both +1 and +2 throught the day. And alot of the pictures (unless she was really close) looked too dark and colorless to me. I was using the 105-300mm kit lens.
Here are a few pics, let me know what you think looks wrong and how I can correct it.

First pic was shot in A mode f4.8 et 1/1000 brighty bright sun at the time.
Second pic S mode f5.6 et 1/320
Third pic S mode f5.6 et 1/320
Fourth pic S mode f5.6 et 1/200, seems brither then pic 2 and 3

All pics were shot with center weighted metering at 200 iso speed. And look much grainier posted here then the priginal pics do, weired. Why do they look so blurry/grainy after I posted them?
Here is a picture of just some people on the chairlift with the sun to there side. To me it looks like it has more color even though the subject is so far away, why? lol

anyone????????

I don't have snow where I live but it doesn't take but just a matter of seconds to do a manual white balance and the snow should then come out white and the other colors would also be correct, Jeff

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Originally Posted by Grandpaw

I don't have snow where I live but it doesn't take but just a matter of seconds to do a manual white balance and the snow should then come out white and the other colors would also be correct, Jeff

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I have a lot of snow where I live, please explain this manual white balance thing. I'm guessing you mean manually adjusting the color temp...but what would the appropriate color temp be?

Jeff its not really the white balance you need to be worried about with snow... its the fact that its so reflective that to properly expose the detail in it, the people end up very dark. thats where the EV +/- comes in...

white balance is the light temperature, which for outside is pretty much all the same (sunlight).


and those ski pics above look pretty good (exposure wise) just take them in to PS and add a bit of contrast/saturation. they do look grainy, possibly because of compression? if the originals don't look this bad, i wouldn't worry about it.



also to note, because your using s exposure ( with center weighted) the last pic that you said is brighter, would be happening because (assuming these are full frame/ with out crops) the center of the frame is filled by her dark jacket, which would properly expose and then be lightened more by the +1 or +2 ev. as opposed to the first couple that have mostly snow, and then a tiny person in a black jacket in part of the center, which means its metering off more snow than jacket and would have a faster shutter speed.


another thing i noticed, in the first one ( her standing with her skis) if you had been on the other side of her, the sun would have been hitting her face thus lighting up the shadows and evening out the exposure between her and the snow alittle better.

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Originally Posted by Dylan8i

Jeff its not really the white balance you need to be worried about with snow... its the fact that its so reflective that to properly expose the detail in it, the people end up very dark. thats where the EV +/- comes in...

white balance is the light temperature, which for outside is pretty much all the same (sunlight).


and those ski pics above look pretty good (exposure wise) just take them in to PS and add a bit of contrast/saturation. they do look grainy, possibly because of compression? if the originals don't look this bad, i wouldn't worry about it.



also to note, because your using s exposure ( with center weighted) the last pic that you said is brighter, would be happening because (assuming these are full frame/ with out crops) the center of the frame is filled by her dark jacket, which would properly expose and then be lightened more by the +1 or +2 ev. as opposed to the first couple that have mostly snow, and then a tiny person in a black jacket in part of the center, which means its metering off more snow than jacket and would have a faster shutter speed.


another thing i noticed, in the first one ( her standing with her skis) if you had been on the other side of her, the sun would have been hitting her face thus lighting up the shadows and evening out the exposure between her and the snow alittle better.

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First off, thank you for your input.
Just got PS installed and learning to use that as well but I will try what you said. Yes the originals dont look grainy.
Yes these pics are full frame, So should I have used spot metering for this situation(all the ski pics) to get a more accurate reading of my subject? And am I corrct in using the +1 +2 EV?
See to me (being VERY new at the Photography game) that first picture looks like the best one, because it has the brightest color. But I will try it with tthe sun to my back next time. From the reading I have done it says the best place to have the sun is at the subjects side, do you agree with that?
Thanks again for your help> hopefully I can get there this weekend and try your suggestions out.

Lou

This is with some contrast and saturation added. Looks much better too me. Still would like to get the picture right without doing that though, lol.

Dylan, I understand the need for the EV compensation to darken the snow and get more detail but it looks to me like the snow is not white and I would think that doing a manual white balance would correct this. To me we are talking about two totally different adjustments. I don't get snow here to be able to talk from experience but changing exposure is different from getting the white balance correct that I am talking about. Would the members that have snow please let me know if I am off track on this or not, Jeff

My understanding:

WB if the problem is color.

Exposure if the problem is gray.

TF

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Originally Posted by Grandpaw

Dylan, I understand the need for the EV compensation to darken the snow and get more detail but it looks to me like the snow is not white and I would think that doing a manual white balance would correct this. To me we are talking about two totally different adjustments. I don't get snow here to be able to talk from experience but changing exposure is different from getting the white balance correct that I am talking about. Would the members that have snow please let me know if I am off track on this or not, Jeff

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Being that the snow is white, would I be able to do a custom white balance right off the snow or should still use a white index card?

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Originally Posted by Quadracer041

Being that the snow is white, would I be able to do a custom white balance right off the snow or should still use a white index card?

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I don't see any reason that the snow wouldn't work as long as the section you use is actually white and not off color, Jeff