The Effects of Shutter Speed on Snow Falling

It is snowing outside and some of you are sitting in front of your computers instead of being outside taking photos! Or, at least photographing through the windows of your cozy house.

Since we rarely get snow around here in Western Washington, I thought it might be helpful to give you some ideas on what shutter speeds work best for the look you are trying to achieve.

Be sure to note that these are not specific suggestions of combinations. Your actual shutter speed and aperture combination will depend on how much light is available when you take the photos. If you shoot in Shutter Priority (Tv or S) and choose your shutter speed, your camera will set the f-stop for you. If you shoot in Aperture Priority (Av or A) and choose your f-stop, the camera will choose the correct shutter speed for you.

In order to get the full range of shutter speeds shown here, I did have to change my ISO. The majority of the shots were taken at ISO 400. The fastest shutter speeds required ISO 800 to let in more light. If I had needed a shutter speed longer than 1/4 second, then I would have needed to lower my sensitivity to ISO 100.

All photos are equivalent exposures and had the same cropping and brightness correction applied to them.

Click on any photo to see it full sized.