This is my first winter in the Northwest, and while it is not brutal by any stretch, we have had our fair share of snow. The snow provides for some fun, but a serious challenge when taking photos. Due to the massive amounts of snow abound, a cameras sensor will interpret the white as a extremely bright sun, using a higher shutter speed than necessary. This will more than likely leave your photos underexposed as well as being a dull gray. There are a few ways to combat this. For one, you can set your EV compensation to -1, or basically to underexpose the image by a full stop. This should give you subjects that are well exposed, and bright white snow instead of a dull gray. It may leave the snow overexposed in the scene, so if snow detail is what you want, be sure to keep that in mind.
Another way is, and this depends on what kind of camera you are using, is to use spot metering, or where your camera meters only off a very small portion of your target subject. This works well when you are focusing on a specific subject in a snowy scene, like your kids for example. The final option is just good 'ol Photoshop. There are many ways to adjust in Photoshop, from simply adjust the
brightness and contrast, to using
curves, and
levels. Find a method that works for you, as all can give you very similar results. Personally, I prefer curves as in Lightroom you can select an individual area of your image and adjust it that way (same can be done in Photoshop, but it's a two step process instead of one step).
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