(First of all, no. This is not an article about laundry. Don’t worry!)

If you live in a cold, snowy climate like me, you likely have lots of opportunity to take snow pictures. And, if you’re like I was, you think you’ve gotten the perfect shot of your kids playing in the snow-filled yard only to look at it later and see a drab, grey facsimile.

Blech. This is terrible!

Well, no more! I have a couple of quick tips to help you keep your whites bright.

An easy way to make sure the snow in your shot looks clean and white is to meter on a face before you take the picture. Get in close to your subject and get an exposure reading. Then, set your camera’s exposure to that number so that even if you take a picture of a field full of snow, it will look white, not icky grey.

If you have no one to focus on for an exposure reading, you can fake it. Many cameras have a button that looks like this: +/- If you use this button to increase the number to +1.5 or +2.0, it will help. Play around with it until you’ve found the correct exposure.

If you have a point-and-shoot camera, or you’ve already taken your snow pictures, there is an easy fix for you as well! Head over to Photoshop and go to Image>>Adjust>>Brightness/Contrast. Then you can move the slider back and forth until you’re happy with the results.

Here is the shot straight-out-of camera. It’s okay, but dull.

This is the result after I tweaked it a little in Photoshop. Now that’s what snow should look like!

I hope these quick tips help you to take the best snow shots ever this winter!

(Unless you or your kids hate snow to begin with. Then just forget I said anything.)

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WWS is a married stay-at-home mom of two with a burning desire for attention. Watch her attempt to get her fix over at her website Walking With Scissors.