More beautiful snow photos with your iPhone
The iPhone has been the most popular camera for years and is more widely used than popular camera brands such as Nikon and Canon. During winter walks, the iPhone is the camera you should have with you to take snow photos. But the wonderful world of snow and ice is sometimes a bit difficult to capture: snow is not always pure white, the bright reflections on the snow can play tricks on you and what time of day is the best time to take snow photos? We discuss it here.
- More beautiful snow photos
- #1 Black and white photos
- #2 Exposure
- #3 Colored accents
- #4 Right time
- #5 Creative ideas
Is there a lot of snow? Grab your iPhone, we’re going out! You can take beautiful photos in the snow, when the world looks as if it is covered in a layer of powdered sugar. Good to know: in the latest iPhones, Apple takes the scene you want to photograph into account. The camera’s software recognizes a snow scene and adjusts the settings accordingly. But you can still adjust some settings yourself, especially if you use third-party apps.
#1 Make your snow photo black and white
Snow usually doesn’t look perfectly white in photos. If the snow has been on the street for a while, dirty spots can appear and street lighting can make the snow appear very yellow. You can easily solve this by converting your photo to a black and white version. This often also improves the contrast, further emphasizing the whiteness of the snow. Color can often distract from the message you want to convey with the photo, namely the wonderful white world. Simple scenes with dark accents in particular can look very dramatic.
In the example below, the snow is not so much the problem, but the building looks a bit yellowed.
After converting to black and white, the yellow tones have disappeared. You can use the built-in filters of the Photos app or a third-party app like Snapseed. You can also choose to move the color temperature slightly from yellow to blue.
#2 Play with the lighting
The problem with snow photos is that large areas of white snow can cause the iPhone camera to leave certain areas underexposed. The camera thinks the scene is too bright and therefore lowers the exposure, which can make the snow look dull and gray. Adjust the lighting to give the snow a fresh appearance. Tap the subject and swipe the sun line to adjust the brightness. Don’t make the photo too light, because then you will lose all the detail and the snow will look like a smooth white mass.
Apps like ProCamera (link) let you manually control exposure and focus; ideal for snow photos. In ProCamera you move the yellow circle for the exposure, which makes the scene look slightly different. The dark spots on the ground keep the scene from looking overexposed. If your photo has become a bit dull and gray, you can lighten the snow a bit with the standard Photos app or third-party apps, so that it looks a bit more natural again.
There are various advanced camera apps for the iPhone, with all kinds of extra options. Below we discuss a few:
#3 Colored accents make your photo more interesting
A completely black and white snow photo can be quite beautiful, but sometimes a colored accent really completes your photo. For example, you can emphasize a person in a brightly colored ski jacket or an animal in the snow by choosing color. If the colored item does not stand out, you can emphasize it extra with apps such as Juxtaposer (link).
For the same reason, photographing a snowstorm does not produce very nice photos. There are no contrasting colors and everything seems monotonous gray and white. In that case, it is better to wait until the sky has cleared so that you have a blue sky as contrast. You can make people stand out with brightly colored scarves and hats.
#4 Choose the right time
The snow is reflective, so sufficient light will not be a problem when taking photos in the snow. This means you can also take beautiful photos with older iPhones that do not have the latest camera technology. Try to avoid shooting in direct sunlight unless you want to see lens flare. Also, don’t let a person look directly at the sun, as it will result in squinted photos. If the sun is high in the sky, you can even photograph something against the sun, as in the photo below.
The most beautiful photos are taken at the end of the afternoon, when the sun is already lower and emits a warmer light. This can cause a more yellow glow, but you can prevent this with tip #1.
#5 Find a creative approach
Snow offers all kinds of creative opportunities to take special photos that are not possible the rest of the year. For example, iCulture reader Janneke came up with the following idea: stick your head in the snow and then take a photo with the flash. The flash creates extra contrast, giving you a kind of 3D snow face. Search Google for ‘3D snow face’ and you will understand what we mean. There was even a brief revival of the phenomenon under the name ‘snowface challenge’.
If you are going to photograph in the snow, a tripod is often not necessary. You can easily make an iPhone stand from accumulated snow. If you have made a snowman that looks a bit pitifully small, you can choose a different perspective: photographed from below in portrait mode, the snowman suddenly looks gigantic! A low angle can also be nice when photographing a snowball fight. With a burst photo you ensure that you don’t miss that one moment of action. Also keep in mind that batteries last less long in the cold, so a power bank is not an unnecessary luxury.
