Winter Photography: What to do When Snow is Blue

But – all too often when the photo is developed, as in film, or processed, as in digital photography, the snow in our photo turns out to be a brilliant blue color. Moody and romantic, yes, but not always the look we were going for.

The good news is that it can be corrected – either by making camera adjustments before taking the shot, or by editing the photograph later in photo editing software such as Photoshop Elements, Photoshop CS4, or any number of other applications.

The blue snow effect is likely to occur when the day is bright and sunny and there is considerable contrast between the sparkling snow and the brilliant blue sky.

If you are photographing in these conditions, try using your camera’s settings for “beach” or “snow” if your camera has these settings. Otherwise, you may need to adjust your camera’s white balance. If your camera has an Auto feature to adjust the white balance automatically, try using that. If not, the camera’s auto presets for white balance can be overridden, but getting the effect you want may require some trial and error experimenting as you try various adjustments.

Luckily, photographers using a digital camera can view their photo immediately and make adjustments if it is not satisfactory. Photographers using a film camera are advised to take notes and record their settings so when the pictures are developed, they will know what gave good results and what did not.

Adjusting the color in photo editing software is another approach. In the picture shown at the bottom, the young skier to the left is surrounded by brilliant blue snow. In the same picture to the right, the snow is considerably “whiter”, thanks to some manipulations in Adobe Photoshop.

There are various ways to correct color in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. One way is to go to the Image Menu and click on Adjustments. Choose Hue/Saturation. The default setting will be Master. Change from Master to Blues, then try moving the sliders for Hue, Saturation and Lightness. You may well get a satisfactory color tone.

If you are taking photographs of falling snow, or if you are photographing on a cloudy day with little contrast, your challenges will be of a different nature. For more detailed information about photographing snow, please visit
Digital Photography: Beyond the Basics