what colour balance is best for shooting in the snow?

Question

im using a digi SLR

Answer 1

Snow can be tricky, but if your camera offers in the colour balance menu a setting of white, use that. Hold the camera against the snow, save this as "white", and make your pictures.
CAUTION: When the sun becomes much stronger or departs, you must make a new "white" setting.

Answer 2

This is one of very few times that I'd question Ponies advice!
Usually in snow, you have to compensate for underexposure, as the camera's meter will try to make the snow 18% grey. So I would set the exposure comp to +1 to start.

Of course, having a digital, you can just shoot and check the histogram or the winky-blinkies to make sure you aren't blowing the highlights. If the histogram is falling off to the right, then you need to back off the + comp and adjust as necessary.

As for WB, auto usually does a pretty good job, or you can use a grey card or white card to manually set. Or if you shoot RAW, then you can easily correct in post processing.

Answer 3

Set the Exposure compensation to -1 and and if you're shooting jpg, adjust the white balance. (Most dSLR cameras will let you take a test shot to set a custom white balance.) If you're shooting RAW, adjust te white balance as needed in post processing.
For more info about shooting in the snow: http://www.digicamhelp.com/learn/nature/snow.php
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Crap. Thanks for spotting that, Ara! (It should be EV +1)