Owing to the cold of winter and the difficulty of handling the apparatus
with stiff fingers or heavy gloves, it is well to have as simple an outfit
as possible. An ordinary fixed focus camera is good for this kind of work.
The lens on this style of camera usually works at F-16 and the shutter at
about 1-20 of a second. If the sun is bright, the next smaller stop will
do.
In taking snow pictures, the amateur who presses the button and lets the
dealer do the rest should advise the latter to develop the film with less
contrast than usual. The average dealer usually develops with as much
contrast as possible, and this method would produce a print with blank
white for the snow and hard blocks for the trees.
For more serious workers, a stand camera should be used. The camera should
be provided with a reversible back and a long bellows. An expensive lens
is not necessary. A medium angle lens will be found most useful.
Shutters are apt to work badly when out in the cold, owing to contraction
of the metal parts. This must be allowed for in making the exposure, by
setting it at greater speed.
The focusing cloth should be fastened to the camera. The Eureka focusing
hood is convenient to use. It is made to fit the camera exactly, and has
little elastic loops which slip over the ears and hold the eyepiece in
place while focusing.
A steady tripod and a stay to keep it from slipping are desirable
additions to the outfit. The camera should be protected as much as
possible from dampness and falling snow.
For best results a non-halation plate is necessary. Backed plates will
give better results than plates unbacked. The reason that the light
effects come out so extremely white and hard in many landscapes is because
the strong light from the snow penetrates the sensitive film and is
reflected into it again from the back of the plate, thus making undue
contrasts, and practically giving double exposure. This is known as
halation.
Other Necessary Precautions.
A corrected plate is essential in snow photography, in order that the
effects of light and shadow may not be too glaringly contrasted. The
isochromatic and orthochromatic plates on the market are corrected, and
are the best to use.
The early morning and the late afternoon are the times best suited for
taking snow pictures. The long shadows give interest and character to what
would otherwise be a meaningless expanse of white. The foreground is often
of the greatest interest in snow pictures. The shadows and gradations on
the surface often form the motif for fine compositions.
Never try to crowd too much on one plate. Much may be done with just a few
bushes projecting above the snow. Newly fallen snow should sometimes be
broken up for pictorial effect; and walking once or twice over the
foreground will also aid matters. In doing this, be careful to notice just
how the tracks should run to give the best lines to your picture.
Three Classes of Snow Pictures.
There are practically three classes of snow pictures, of which each
demands its own appropriate development and treatment.
Class 1--Where an expanse of snow is relieved only by delicate shadows, or
where the picture is taken during a snowstorm, when all objects are
rendered more or less indistinct and of a light tone by intervening
particles of snow. For these, the exposure should be short, the rule being
that short exposures increase contrasts, and in scenes of this
description, contrast is what is needed. On a bright day, 1-100 of a
second would be time enough. Very early in the morning or very late in the
afternoon 1-25 of a second will give ample time.
The development for plates in this class may safely be rather
vigorous--that is, with a normal developer and the plate carried to a
fairly good printing destiny. This method gives character to the high
lights, and a pleasing richness to the slight shadows that are present on
the surface of the snow. A pyro developer is good.
Rodinal is a good developer for contrasts when used in these proportions:
Rodinal, one-quarter ounce; water, five ounces; bromide potash; ten per
cent solution, five drops. The temperature of the developer should be kept
from sixty-five to seventy degrees Fahrenheit.
Class 2--When dark masses are in the foreground, with the middle distance
fairly open, and snow broken up--also, when strong contrasts appear in the
view between the snow and other objects--then a longer exposure is
needed--from one-tenth to a full second, according to the light. Use No. 8
stop.
This class of pictures should be developed in a weak solution. A suitable
metal hydroquinone developer is made as follows: Metal, thirty grains;
hydroquinone, thirty grains; twenty ounces of water. Then add sulphide of
soda (crystals) one ounce, and carbonate of soda (crystals) three-quarter
ounce.
Take two ounces of this, and add four ounces of water when there are no
very heavy masses of dark in the foreground, and eight ounces of water
when there are such masses. Before using, add one drop of ten per cent
solution of potassium bromide to each ounce of the solution.
Class 3 embraces snow pictures with figures, street scenes, skating and
sleighing scenes, etc. Short exposure is required here because of the
motion of the figures. The correction must be made in development.
The development of plates of this kind where there are dark objects and
brightly lighted snow or ice in the view is practically the same as in No.
2.